Cognitive Interview Flashcards
What are the components of the cognitive interview?
- Context reinstatement
- Report everything
- Recall from a changed perspective
- Recall in reverse order
What is context reinstatement in the cognitive interview?
what is it related to?
Witnesses should return to the original crim scene in there minds
They should imagine the environment and their emotions
Related to context-dependant forgetting
What is the report everything component in the cognitive interview
Witnesses are encouraged to include every detail they remember even if it seems irrelevant or they aren’t confident on it.
This information could act as a cue and trigger more information
What is the recall from a changed perspective in the cognitive interview
Witnesses should recall from different perspectives e.g. another witness or perpetrator
This effects the expectations and it effects the schema you have on a particular setting
What is the recall in reverse order component in the cognitive interview
Recalling events in a different order to what they occurred e.g. middle to beginning
This is dine to prevent expectations or how the event must have happened rather than the actual events
What could you use to evaluate the cognitive interview
- Support for the effectiveness of CI
- Comparisons are difficult
-The CI is time consuming
How would you evaluate the cognitive interview
(support for the effectiveness)
one strength is evidence supporting
- Meta analysis by a psychologist combined data from 55 studies comparing the CI to standard police interviews
The CI gave 41% increase in accuracy compared to a standard interview
Only 4 studies in the analysis shown there was no different between the 2 interviews showing the CI is effective in helping accuracy
However it was found there was an increase in the amount of inaccurate info recalled (more incorrect in enhanced CI)
What is the enhanced cognitive interview
Fisher et al developed additional elements of the CI
- For example the interviewer needs to know when to establish eye contacts and when to relinquish it
- also includes ideas such as to reduces eyewitness anxiety, minimising distractions, getting the witness to speak slowly and asking open ended questions
How would you evaluate the cognitive interview
(comparisons are difficult)
Some police say that aspects of the CI do t work for example Thames valley police do not use the ‘changing perspectives’ component. Other police forces that use the CI have tended to used the ‘reinstated context and ‘Report everything’ components only
So it is hard to compare the effects of all components used together
However, Miline and bull found each of the 4 components of the CI used alone produced more information than standard interviews
How would you evaluate the cognitive interview
(The CI is time consuming)
Police officers may be reluctant to use the CI because it takes more time and training
More time is needed with a witness to establish a rapport allowing them to relax
The CI also requires specialist training and many forces cannot provide it
Not a realistic/not always possible method for police officers to use and may be better just to focus on a few elements
