Criminal Psychology- Cognitive Flashcards
Background research- Identity parades
What are identity parades and when are they used?
- A line up of around 6 people including the suspect and a number of fillers
- Used when police have a suspect and need a witness to confirm
Background research- Identity parades
Why are police line-ups potentially a weakness?
Witnesses feel under pressure to choose one of the individuals, even if none of them are the correct criminal
Background research- Identity parades
How could bias be reduced?
By showing the witness the people in the line-up one at a time without making them aware of the quantity
Background research- Identity parades
How did the results of Gary Wells’ research prove that ‘confirming feedback’ altered confidence?
- Results showed that people who recieved confirming feedback were more certain of their accuracy and they’d be more willing to testify
Background research- Identity parades
How should police react when a witness suggests they know who the victim is?
They shouldn’t- to avoid giving away subconscious facial cues
Background research- Police Interviews (Interviewing witnesses)
Who was the Cognitive Interview and Enhanced Interview Developed by?
Fisher and Geiselman
Background research- Police Interviews (Interviewing witnesses)
What was the aim of the cognitive interview and what were the four components of it?
- Improving accuracy of eye-witness accounts
- Reinstate context, Report everything they remember, Narrative reading, Report from different perspectives
Background research- Police Interviews (Interviewing witnesses)
How should witnesses tell a story in the narrative reading component?
From a different starting point
Background research- Police Interviews (Suspect interrogation)
Why are interrogations different from interviews?
Interrogations are guilt prosumptive and accusatory in nature
Background research- Police Interviews (Suspect interrogation)
What was the general aim behind Reid’s 9 step suspect interrogation?
What was it’s purpose?
To frame decisions to imply guilt and cut off any denials from suspects
Memon and Higham
What was the aim of Memon and Higham’s review of the cognitive interview?
To review secondary research:
* Components of the Cognitive Interview
* Isolating the Effective Components of the CI
* The enhanced CI
* Comparison interviews
Memon and Higham
What method was used?
Peer review of existing research
Memon and Higham- The effectiveness of the CI
What did Milne’s study find about the full CI procedure in terms of recall?
The full CI procedure produced more recall than any single component group
Memon and Higham- The effectiveness of the cognitive interview
What did the review conclude about context reinstatement?
It is the most effective component of the CI, but the combination of all 4 components is the most effective
Memon and Higham- relationship between CI and structured interview
What was concluded about the review in terms of information produced from a witness?
The CI does produce more information from witnesses than the structured interview
Memon and Higham- Effect measures of memory performance on findings
Why would investigating percentage of correct interview statements cause problems?
Neglects consideration of the amount and nature of unreported crime
Memon and Higham- Effect measures of memory performance on findings
What was concluded about using qualitative measures?
They’re more accurate
Memon and Higham- Interviewer variables, effect of training
How much training as a minimum was reocmmended for effective CI?
2 days minimum- 4 hours shown to be ineffective
Memon and Higham- Interviewer variables, effect of training
Who should CI’s be delivered by ideally?
Police officers who are motivated in their job
Memon and Higham
What was conlcluded from the findings?
More research is needed to establish suitable, measures of memory
Memon and Higham
What was concluded in terms of individual differences?
They remain a challenge for researchers and need to be considered
Application- Collection of Evidence
What is the P.E.A.C.E model for suspects?
Where is it used? (country)
Interview technique based around ideas of enhanced cognitive interview, avoids leading questions
UK
Application- Collection of Evidence
What steps are involved in the P.E.A.C.E model?
P- preparation- map out info they already have to establish what they need
E- engage- form rapport with interviewee
A- account + accuracy check- full account of events, no interruption, open questions
C- closure- they can always call back, shouldn’t indicate judgement (guilt)
E- evaluation- goes back through interview and check for loose ends/ inconsistencies
Application- Collection of Evidence
What is the Enhanced Cognitive Interview?
- Improved version of CI- contains same 4 steps (Fisher+ Geiselman)
Application- Collection of Evidence
What steps are involved in the Enhanced Cognitive Interview?
- Greet and personalise to build rapport
- Explain aims
- Reinstate context
- Report everything, open q’s, no interruptions
- Recall in different narrative order, challenge inconsistencies
- Recall from different perspective
- Closure
- Evaluation
Application- Collection of Evidence
What are stengths and weaknesses of th enchanced CI?
- Weakness- time consuming, not suitable for all witnesses, may lead to retieval of inaccurate info
Application- Dixon and Mahoney
What was the aim of the research?
Accents
To test the hypothesis that a Brummie accented suspect produces stronger attributions of guilt than a standard accented-suspect
Tested whether race and crime type had an influence
Application- Dixon and Mahoney
What was the sample?
Which group of people were eliminated from taking part?
- 119 white undergraduates from department of psychology at University College Worcester
- Male and female, mean age of 25
- Ps who grew up in Birmingham were eliminated
Application- Dixon and Mahoney
