Eyewitness Testimony and Cognitive Interview Flashcards
give 4 factors that affect eyewtiness testimony
- post event discussion
- weapon focus
- anxiety / stress
- leading questions
explain what post event discussion is and how it affects EWT
- occurs in the aftermath of an incident
- after the incident the witnesses talk about the situation
- this alters your perception of the event leading to an unreliable memory
explain the study that supports post event discussion
gabbert et al
- participants watched a video of a crime from different points of view
- participants then discussed the incident with eachother
- 71% of participants recalled information they didnt see
- control group had 0% innacurate recall
explain what weapon focus is
- eyewitness concentrates on a weapon over other details of a crime
explain what the yerkes-dodson curve is
- stress-performance relationship followed an inverted U
- this means for tasks of moderate complexity, performance increases with stress up to an optimal point where it then declines
explain the study that supports the affect of anxiety on EWT
johnson and scott
- particpants believed they were taking part in a lab study
- while waiting for the lab study they heard an argument in the next room
- low anxiety condition = a man walked through carrying a pen with greasy hands
- high anxiety condition = sound of breaking glass. A man walked out of the room holding a paper knide that was covered in blood
- particpants later picked out the man from a set of photos
- 50% of the low anxiety condition correctly identified the man compared to 30% in the high anxiety condition
explain the study that contradicts the importace of stress and weapon focus on influencing EWT
yuille and cutshall
- Studied witnesses of a real-life shooting (thief shot).
- Conducted follow-up interviews and compared them to original ones.
- Witnesses rated their stress levels during the incident.
- Highly stressed witnesses: 85% accurate recall.
- Less stressed witnesses: 75% accurate recall.
explain the study that supports the affect of leading questions on EWT
loftus and palmer
- participants watched a video of a car crash and got asked a question with different verbs
- hit, smashed or contacted
- mean speed reported for contacted was 31mph compared to 40mph for smashed
who created the cognitive interview
fisher and geiselman
what is the cogonitive interview
a questioning technique used by the police to enhance retrieval of information about a crime scene from the eyewtiness
what are the 4 stages in the cognitive interview
- report everything
- reinstate the context
- reverse the order
- change perspective
explain stage 1 of the cognitive interview
report everything
- witnesses are asked to report every detail even if they think it is not important
explain stage 2 of the cognitive interview
reinstate the context
- the interviewer tries to mentally reinstate the environment and personal context of the crime
- this can help recreate the event in their mind and act as a cue
explain stage 3 of the cognitive interview
reverse the order
- recount the incident in a different narrative order
- people tend to recall recent events more clearly due to the recency effect
explain stage 4 of the cognitive interview
change perspective
- describe what they think other witnessed may have seen
explain the study that supports the use of the cognitive interview
geiselman at al
- participants viewed a film of a violent crime, after 48 hours they were interviewed using:
- the cognitive intrview, standrd interview
- the number of facts accurately recalled was recorded
- the average number of correctly recalled facts for the cognitive interview was greater than the standard interview
