Cognitive Interview

Question 1

Who created the cognitive interview?

Answer 1

Fisher et al. (1984)

Question 2

What are the techniques used in the cognitive interview?

Answer 2

reinstate context: witnesses should mentally recreate the physical and psychological environment of the original incident, aiming to make memories accesible through cues
report everything: interviewer should encourage witnesses to tell them every single detail of the event without missing anything, even if they believe the detail is irrelevant
change the perspective: witnesses are asked to recall the event from multiple perspectives, e.g different angles
change the order: the interviewer should attempt to run through the events in a different order e.g reverse, to avoid the witness filling in gaps in chronological order

Question 3

What does the cognitive interview help to combat?

Answer 3

Retrieval failure: provides cues to aid recall
Schema: prevents people from reporting their expectations

Question 4

What is the enhanced cognitive interview?

Answer 4

Fisher et al (1987) developed some additional elements of the cognitive interview, to focus more on social dynamics
- making and relinquishing eye contact
- reducing anxiety
- minimising distractions
- witnesses to breathe slowly
- open ended questions

Question 5

AO3: lots of training required to implement

Answer 5

Another criticism of the Cl is the amount of training required to implement
it.
For escample, more time is needed to establish rapport with a witness and allow them to relax. The cl also requires special training that not all facilities can implement properly (Kebell and Wagstaff, 1997).
These limitations of the CI have meant that the use of it in police interviews has not been widespread or effectively implemented
This suggests that the complete cognitive interviem is not a realistic method for police to use, and it may be more beneficial to just focus on key elements

Question 6

AO3: research support from real police interviews

Answer 6

A strength of the cognitive interview is research support, winere Fisher et al. (1989) examined its impact in real police interviews.
16 experienced detectives recorded a selection of interviews using a standard interviewing technique. The detectives were then divided into 2 groups: one was trained for the cognitive interview, the other kept using standard interviewing.
After training, their new interviews were recorded and analysed. Trained detectives elicited 46% more info after their cognitive interview, in comparison to the control group. here it was possible to confirm the info, over 90% was found to be accurate.
These results support the effectiveness of the cognitive interview, using real police interviews and highlights the fact that CI can be useful in catching and charging criminals, which is a benefit to society holistically

Question 7

AO3: effectiveness focuses on quantity of info rather than quality

Answer 7

A criticism of the cl is that its effectiveness has largely been in terms of quantity of info rather than quality
Köhnken et al. (1999) also found an increase in the amount of inaccurate information recalled by participants. This was a particular issue in the en -
E hanced cognitive interriew, wnich produced more inaccuracies than the standard Cl. Cl may sacrifice the quality of ENT in favour of the quality of information
This means that all info collected from cognitive interviews must be treated with caution, as it cannot guarantee accuracy.