EWT: cognitive interview Flashcards
what are the 4 aspects of cognitive interview?
- report everything
- reinstate the context
- reverse the order
- change perspective
why is the cognitive interview used?
to improve EWT
what is the cognitive interview based on?
psychological insights into how memory works
true or false?:
witnesses should report every detail, even if it seems irrelevant
true
what could seemingly trivial details trigger?
other important memories about the event
what should witnesses do in ‘reinstate the context’?
return to the original crime scene in their mind + imagine environment/emotions
what is ‘reinstate the context’ linked to?
context-dependent forgetting
why is it important to reverse the order of the event?
to prevent people reporting their expectations of how the event must’ve happened, rather than reporting the actual events
true or false?:
‘reverse the order’ encourages dishonesty
false - it prevents dishonesty, as it’s harder for people to be untruthful if they have to reverse order
what do participants do in ‘change perspective’?
recall incident from other people’s perspectives (e.g. how the event would’ve appeared to perpetrator/other witnesses)
why is it important to change the perspective?
to disrupt the effects of expectations + schema on recall
what does the enhanced cognitive interview focus on?
social dynamics of interaction
list 3 aspects that may be involved in the ECI
~ reducing eyewitness anxiety
~ minimising distractions
~ getting witness to speak slowly
what is one strength of CI?
there is support for its effectiveness
what are 2 limitations of CI?
~ CI is time-consuming
~ some elements of CI may be more useful
what was Kohnken et. al.’s procedure?
they conducted a meta-analysis combining data from 55 studies comparing the CI + ECI with standard police interview
what did Kohnken et. al. find?
CI gave an average 41% more accurate information compared with standard police interview
what is one counterpoint to Kohnken et. al.’s research?
there was also an increase in amount of inaccurate information recalled by participants
why should police officers treat CIs/ECIs with caution?
cognitive interviews may sacrifice quality of EWT in favour of quantity
why may police officers be reluctant to use CI?
it takes more time + training than standard police interview
why may it be better to only focus on a few key elements of CI?
the complete CI may not be a realistic method
what did Milne + Bull find?
each element of the CI produced more information when used alone
which 2 elements of CI produced the best recall in Milne + Bull’s research?
~ reinstate context
~ report everything
what questions the credibility of CI?
the fact that some elements are more useful than others
