Cognitive Interview Flashcards
What is the cognitive interview
A method of interviewing witnesses for a crime to help them retrieve more accurate memories
State the four components of the CI
- Recall everything
- Context reinstatement
- Reverse the order
- Change perspective
Which researchers developed the CI
Geiselman at al. (1984)
Describe recall everything
Witness asked to report all details of event, even irrelevant ones
How does recall everything improve accuracy of memory
Memories are interconnected and such recollection of trivial details may cue other important memories
Describe context reinstatement
Involves the witness mentally re-creating the situation in their mind, such as details of the environment (eg. Weather, time etc.) and emotions (eg. What they were feeling)
How does context reinstatement improve accuracy of memory
Makes memories accessible through contextual and emotional cues- help to retrieve memories
Describe reverse the order
Witnesses are asked to describe the event in a different chronological order (eg. From end to beginning)
How does reverse the order improve accuracy of memory
Prevents people from reporting expectations of how event happened rather than the actual events and prevents dishonesty as its harder to produce untruthful account if have to reverse it
Describe change perspective
Witness is asked to mental recreate the situation from another persons point of view
How does change perspective improve accuracy of memory
Disrupts effects of schemas on recall as schemas generate expectations of what would have happened and therefore it could be the schema that is recalled rather than what actually happened
