Extrapolating from Easterbrook's cue utilization hypothesis, an interaction between arousal and attentional focus was predicted. White female college students played a bogus visual discrimination game in which they saw a total of 24 target photos: 6 black targets holding a weapon in their hands, 6 white targets holding weapons, 6 black targets holding objects other than weapons, and 6 white targets holding objects other than weapons. Subjects were randomly assigned to view the photos while experiencing white noise and threat of electric shock (high arousal) or without such factors (low arousal). Subjects were also randomly assigned to one of four attentional focus levels: face focus, hand focus, background focus, and free focus. A signal detection-type task provided as assessment of identification accuracy. The data revealed a significant 'weapon effect': Subjects were better at identifying photos of targets who were not holding a weapon than they were at identifying photos of targets who were holding a weapon. No support was found for the predicted interaction between arousal and attentional focus. 25 references. (Author abstract modified)