Cognitive Interview Flashcards
What is cognitive interview
A way of improving EWT.it suggested that if you improve the way in which the witness is questioned you can improve the accuracy of EWT making It reliable
Why was the CI developed
It was a technique designed for the use of police interviews that involve witnesses (RWA)
This enhances the retrieval of the event that was witnessed
Who was the key psychologist and what did he find
Key psychologists- Fisher 1987
He studied real interviews by police officials
He found :
Witnesses were bombard with a series of Breuer questions that were directed and close ended
Witnesses were interrupted (interference )
Questions were out of sync with the witnesses own metal representation of the event
What are the 4 components of CI
Context reinstatement
Report everything
Recall from a changed perspective
Recall in reverse
What is context reinstatement
Mentally reinstate context of the target event
Recall the scene ,weather ,what you were thinking and feeling at the same time ,the preceding event
Return to the scene of the crime
What is report everything
Report every detail you can recall even if it seems trivial
Let’s the witness speak
What is recall from a changed perspective
Try to describe the episode as it would have been seen from the different viewpoints ,not just your own
E.g victim,perpetrator ,2nd witness
What is recall in reverse (change the order)
Report the episode in several different temporal orders moving backward and forwards in time
Evaluation of cognitive interviews
P:one strength is CI is the amount of support research
E:evidence for this is that researchers found Pps who were interviewed with “report everything “ and “mental reinstatement “ had a higher significant recall compared to using just one individual component or controlled condition
E:this suggests that CI is an effective technique for increasing the accessibility of stored information therefore it is reliable
Ao1 cognitive interview
CI is a way of improving ent as it encourages witnesses to a crime to recreate
the original context to increase the accessibility of stored Information
-Fisher Studied real Interviews by police officials where he found that witnesses were
bombared with a series of question that here directed and close ended, they were Interupted (interference)
-Therefore (I was created and uses& retrieval strategies:
Context Reinstatement which is mentally reinstating the context of the target event
causing you to return to the scene of the crime where you recall weather, emotions
Report everything where every detail that the witness can recall even if its trival so the
witness speaks
Recall from changed perspective where the witness tries to describe the episode as It would have
been from a different view point not just your own For example: victim, perpetrator
* recall in reverse
change the order where the witness reports the episode In several temporal orders moving forward and backwards in time.
This shows how I can be used for police Interviews to Increase the reliability of EWT
What research supports the effectiveness of the Cognitive Interview (CI)?
Research has found that participants interviewed with ‘recall everything’ and ‘mental reinstatement’ had significantly higher recall compared to using just one component or controlled condition.
This suggests that CI is an effective technique for increasing the accessibility of stored information and hence increasing eyewitness testimony (EWT), therefore it has reliability.
What is a weakness of the Cognitive Interview regarding the measurement of effectiveness?
Effectiveness is often measured in terms of quantity rather than quality of recall.
Researchers have found an increase in correct information recalled but also an increase in incorrect recall when using enhanced CI, indicating that the information recalled isn’t accurate, meaning results may lack validity.
What is a weakness related to the time and training needed for the Cognitive Interview?
Psychologists found that it requires more time than is often available, reporting that it needs more time than police investigations have.
This implies that it would take too long to carry out CI in a real police investigation, therefore it lacks real-world applicability (RWA).
What is a practical difficulty in implementing the Cognitive Interview?
Evidence shows that components such as ‘report everything’ and ‘reverse the order’ are used during CI, but some forces don’t have the training.
This highlights how CI requires more time than available, questioning its real-world applicability (RWA).
