Cognitive Interview (Gieselman)

Question 1

Cognitive Interview

Answer 1

The Cognitive Interview is a questioning technique used by the police to enhance retrieval of information about a crime scene from the eyewitnesses and victims memory. It uses multiple retrieval strategies Created by Fischer et al.

Question 2

4 Stages

Answer 2

Context Reinstatement The interviewer tries to mentally reinstate the interviewee back in the time of the incident, often asking them to think of their 5 senses, how they were feeling during the day etc.

Recall from a different perspective Ask the interviewee to recall the event from the perspective of another witness

Describing the event in several orders. Gieselman says that we are effected by recency bias, more recent events are recalled better. Interviewers should encourage the interviewee to work backwards in time rather than forward

In-Depth Reporting Asked to recall everything, even those thought to be irrelevant as these could act as memory triggers

Question 3

Gieselman et al. (1984) APFC

Answer 3

Aim - To evaluate the effectiveness of the congitive interview

P - Ppts. viewed a film of violent crime, after 48 hours, were interviewed using 3 different methods: cognitive behaviour, standard interview by the LAPD, interview using hypnosis. Facts recalled and errors made were recorded

F - The average number of correctly recalled facts for the cognitive interview was 41.2, hypnosis was 38 & standard interview was 29.4. No difference in number of errors

C - Cognitive interview gives better recall

Question 4

Ethical Interviewing AO1

Answer 4

1991 Report by the Royal Commision on Criminal Justice suggests there was a high amount of false confessions as a result of aggressive interview tactics by police. This has then been altered, with police encouraged to use more ethical interview techniques to keep suspects calm and co-operative

Question 5

PEACE Model of Ethical Interviewing

Answer 5

Based on an idea that suspects are more likely to cooperate if they feel relaxed and not threatened

P - Preparation and Engaging - Identify key objectives of the interview
E - Engage & Explain - Active listening
A - Account, clarification & courage - Open-ended questions
C - Closure - Give suspect chance to ask questions
E - Evaluate - Reflecting on the interviewer’s performance

Question 6

Eval. of Interview Techniques + Application (CI + EI)

Answer 6

Strengths

• Gieselman (1985) showed ppts. vid of violent crime. Then gave either cognitive interview, standard interview or hypnosis. Average facts recalled was 41.2 for CI, 38 for hypnosis and 29.4 for standard interview.
• Holmberg & Christiansson (2002) found that criminals said that interviews characterised by intimidation and disrespect were more likely to result in denial, while more respectful and positive attitudes were more likely to result in a confession. Supports EI

Weaknesses

• CI may lead to an increase in incorrect info. Kohnken (1999) recorded an 81% increase in correct info compared to the standard interview, but also a 61% increase in incorrect info
• Gudjonsson (1992) argues that some social skills approaches like EI are naive and should not replace the more persuasive methods of traditional interviews

A - In real scenarios shortened versions of CI used to save police time. Milne & Bull (2002) found a combo of context reinstatement and report everything is most effective