CIT Flashcards
What is CIT?
- A method of interviewing eyewitnesses to help them retrieve accurate memories using a series of four main techniques based on psychological insights into how memory works.
how many stages are there of the cognitive interview technique?
4
What are the stages of the CIT?
-Report Everything
-Reinstate the Context
-Reverse the Order
-Change Perspective
What is the ‘Report Everything’ stage?
-Free recall
-Witnesses are encouraged to include every single detail of the event, even if it may seem irrelevant or the witness isn’t confident about it- seemingly trivial details may be important and may trigger other important memories.
Which stage of CIT involves free recall?
Report Everything
What is the first stage of the CIT?
Report Everything
How does the ‘Report Everything’ stage improve EWT?
-by preventing leading questions being asked by interviewers.
What is the second stage of the CIT?
Reinstate the context
What happens in the ‘Reinstate the context’ stage of the CIT?
-The witness should return to the original crime scene ‘in their mind’ and imagine the environment and their emotions.
Which stage involves the witness returning to the original crime scene ‘in their mind’?
Reinstate the Context
How does the ‘Reinstate the context’ stage improve accuracy of EWT?
By preventing/reducing context dependent forgetting- encoding specificity principle states that recall is better when you try to remember information in the same location/state that you learned it in.
What stage uses the encoding specificity principle to improve EWT?
Reinstate the Context
What is the third stage of the CIT?
Reverse the order
What stage involves events being recalled in a different order?
Reverse the order
What happens in the‘Reverse the order’ stage of the CIT?
-Events are recalled in a different order from the original sequence
How does the ‘Reverse the Order’ stage help improve EWT accuracy?
-prevents people reporting their expectations of how the event must have happened rather than reporting the actual events.
-prevents dishonesty- it’s harder for people to produce an untruthful account if they have to reverse it.
What is the fourth stage of the CIT?
Change the perspective
What stage involves witnesses recalling the incident from other people’s perspectives?
Change the perspective
What happens in the‘Change the Perspective’ stage of the CIT?
-Witnesses recall the incident from other people’s perspectives- such as other witnesses, the victim etc.
How does the ‘Change the Perspective’ stage improve accuracy of EWT?
-disrupts the effect of expectations and also the effect of schema on recall.
How is the ECI different to the CIT?
- has more elements that focus on social dynamics of the interaction
What does the ECI propose/have more focus on?
-ideas such as reducing eyewitness anxiety, minimising distractions, getting the witness to speak slowly and asking open-ended questions.
What are the strengths of the CIT?
-there is research support to demonstrate its effectiveness
What are the limitations of the CIT?
-more time consuming
-some stages may be more effective than others
Explain the research support for the cognitive interview technique?
-Kohnken (1999) conducted a meta-analysis of 55 studies and found, on average, an increase of 41% in the amount of correct information generated in the CI compared with standard interviewing techniques.
-However, Kohnken also found an increase in the amount of inaccurate information, particularly when the ECI was used.
-This shows that the Cl is an effective technique in helping witnesses to recall information.
-However, police officers should still treat ewt with caution as accuracy can vary depending on which technique is used (Cl vs ECI).
Explain the limitation of the cognitive interview technique that some stages may be more effective than others?
-Milne and Bull (2002) found information reported by their participants across each of the four individual components of the Ci was greater than information reported via the standard police interview.
-However, Milne and Bull also found that when participants were interviewed using a combination of the ‘report everything’ and ‘mental reinstatement’ components of the CI, recall was significantly higher than in all other conditions.
-This shows that the CIT is effective in having witnesses recall more information.
-However, it also suggests that some stages of the CI are more effective than others.
-This casts some doubt on the credibility of the overall CI.
Explain the limitation of the cognitive interview technique that it is time consuming?
-Kebbell and Wagstaff (1997) suggested that the CI requires special training but many police forces do not have the resources to provide more than a few hours.
-Also, more time is needed for a CI than an SI to establish rapport and allow those being interviewed to relax which police do not have- they have a short 48-hour window in which they can hold a suspect for questioning.
-this means that police forces may be reluctant to use it
