Eyewitness testimony part 2

Question 1

Why was the cognitive interview developed

Answer 1

• developed to increase accuracy
• developed by Geiselman et al (1984) to try to increase the accuracy of witnesses’ recall of events during police questioning
• the interview is the evidence by someone who has witnessed the crime and recounts the details from memory

Question 2

Outline the proecess of the cognitive interview

Answer 2

• interviewer tries to make the witness relaxed and tailors their language to suit the witness
• witness mentally recreates sthe environmental context and internal context of the crime scene
• witness reports everything they can remember about the crime
• witness asked to recall details of the crime in different orders
• witness asked to recall event from various different persepectives
• interviewer avoids judgy/personal comments

Question 3

Research to support cognitive interview- Geilselman et al (1986)- method

Answer 3

• in a staged situation, an intruder carrying a blue rucksack entered a classroom and stike a slide projector
• two days later, pps were questioned about the event
• independent groups design- pps were either questioned using a standard interview procedure or with the congitive interview technique
• early in the questioning, pps were asked ‘was the guy with the green backpack nervous’
• later in the questioning, pps were asked what colour the man’s rucksack was

Question 4

Research to support cognitive interview- Geilselman et al (1986)- results and conclusion

Answer 4

• pps in the cognitive interview condition were less likely to recall the rucksack as being green than those in the standard interview condition
• cognitive interview technique reduces the effect of leading questions

Question 5

Research to support cognitive interview- Geilselman et al (1986)- evaluation

Answer 5

• experiment was conducted as though a real life crime had taken place in the classroom- high ecological validity
• independent groups design used- the pps in the cognitive interview condition could have been naturally less susceptible to leading questions than the other group (due to individual differences)

Question 6

Short evaluation of CIT

Answer 6

• has been shown to increase the accuracy of EWT

- this means police can work more efficiently, so public money is better spent- beneficial for the economy

Question 7

Geiselman et al (1985)- 4 stages

Answer 7

• context reinstatement- recall the scene
• report everything- report every detail
• recall from a changed persepctive- describe the event as it would have been seen from different persepectives
• recall in reverse order- describe the event in reverse order

Question 8

Fisher et al (1987)

Answer 8

• enhanced ci more effective than basic ci
• encourage witness to speak slowly, reduce anxiety
• eyewitnesses eci average 57.5 correct statements to ci 39.6

Question 9

Geiselman and fisher 1997

Answer 9

• supports cognitive interview

- recall more efective when done sooner after crime because information recalled better