Cognitive Interview* Flashcards
Cognitive interview
• a method of interviewing eye witnesses to help them retrieve more accurate memories
Fisher and Geiselman- EWT could be improved if police used better techniques when interviewing
1) Report everything
• encouraged to report everything even if it seems irrelevant
• This can trigger further memories
2) reinstate the context
• mentally re-create the image of the incident, environment and emotional state.
• Related to context dependent forgetting
3) reverse the order
• recall in different order
• More difficult and prevents expectations and dishonesty
4) change the perspective
• mentally re-create in other POV
• Disrupts expectations and schema
The enhanced cognitive interview
Fisher-additional elements;Focus on social dynamics, know when to establish eye contact, no unnecessary interruptions, Witness controls flow of info, open ended questions, ask to speak slowly, Don’t guess, Make them feel comfortable
Time-consuming
• Takes longer than standard interview, requires special training so is unlikely to be used
Useful elements
• Milne and bull- all elements are valuable
• Each produced more info than standard, combo report everything and reinstate context= best recall
• Increases credibility of cognitive interview
Support effectiveness of ECI
• Special benefits- kohnken combined 50 studies data
• ECI provided more correct info and standard police so real practical benefits
• Gives greater chance of catching and charging criminals
Variations of CI used
• May apply to one police force but not another, difficult to compare ways it is used
• police reject as they may not believe it will work
• However variation can be good as it is flexible so can be adapted
Creates increase in inaccurate info
• Recall of incorrect may be increased as well
• Kohnken 81% inc of correct info, 61% inc in inaccurate info
• Recall of accurate outweighs inaccurate
