Cognitive Interview

Question 1

Cognitive Interviews

Answer 1

a method of interviewing eyewitnesses to help them retrieve more accurate memories. it uses 4 main techniques: report everything, reinstate the context, reverse the order, change the perspective

Question 2

Who recommended Cognitive Interviews

Answer 2

Fischer and Geiselman

Question 3

First technique

Answer 3

Report Everything

Question 4

What does report everything include?

Answer 4

• witnesses are encouraged to include every single detail of the event even if it seems irrelevant

Question 5

Second Technique

Answer 5

Reinstate the context

Question 6

What does reinstate the context include?

Answer 6

• the witness should imagine the environment where the crime was and their emotions

Question 7

Third Technique

Answer 7

Reverse the order

Question 8

What does reverse the order include?

Answer 8

• events should be recalled in a different chronological order to the original sequence e.g. from the middle to the beginning
• this is done to prevent people reporting their expectations and dishonesty

Question 9

fourth technique

Answer 9

Change perspective

Question 10

What does changing the perspective include?

Answer 10

• witness should recall the incident from other people’s perspective e.g. how it should of appeared to other witnesses or to the perpetrator. this is to prevent the effect of expectations and schema on recall

Question 11

What is a limitation of CI

Answer 11

• time consuming

Question 12

How is CI time consuming a limitation?

Answer 12

• it takes more time than the standard police interviews
• bc ppl need time to establish a rapport and relax and the police need special training to give the CI
• under gov budget cuts the police may not have time to do this
• • thus police may not use it
• time consuming to interview and to train police officer who may prefer to be catching the criminals instead of hours of testimonies
• money used to train interviewers can be used to get more poilce officer

Question 13

what did Milne and Bull find?

Answer 13

that using a combination of report everything and context reinstatement produced better recall that any of the other conditions

Question 14

Why are Milne and Bull’s findings a strength?

Answer 14

• it suggests that two elements should be used to improve police interviewing of eyewitnesses even if the full CI are more useful that others