improving accuracy - cognitive interview

Question 1

what is a cognitive interview?

Answer 1

a method of interviewing EW’s, which is thought to be particularly effective in increasing the rates of accurate recall, by considering the theories discussed previously

Question 2

who developed the cognitive interview?

Answer 2

Fisher and Gieselman

Question 3

what are the 4 stages used?

Answer 3

1. report everything
2. reinstate context
3. reverse order
4. changed perspective

Question 4

explain ‘report everything’

Answer 4

• witnesses are encouraged to include every single detail
• seemingly insignificant/ peripheral details may be important or trigger the recall of larger events, by acting as a ‘cue’

Question 5

explain ‘reinstate context’

Answer 5

• visually the witness’s should return to the original crime scene and imagine the environment and their emotions
• e.g. recalling the weather, location and mood of the day prevents context-dependent forgetting by reminding the eyewitness of their external cues at the time

Question 6

explain ‘reverse order’

Answer 6

• recalling events in a different order, other than chronological, reduces the
  ability of the EW’s to lie (as it is simply difficult)
• also reduces the impact of schemas on their perception of events.

Question 7

explain ‘change perspective’

Answer 7

• witness should recall the event from other people’s perspective.
• this is done to disrupt the effect of expectations and schema on recall or pre-conceived perceptions of how the crime, in their opinion, happened

Question 8

outline a typical ‘standard’ police interview

Answer 8

• witnesses are often interrupted
• not allowed to talk freely about their experiences
• closed questions, encouraging less detailed answers

Question 9

what was developed after the cognitive interview?

Answer 9

the ‘enhanced’ cognitive interview

Question 10

who created the ECI?

Answer 10

Fisher

Question 11

what is the ECI?

Answer 11

• focuses on the social dynamics of the interactions between the EW and the interviewer
• e.g. knowing when to make eye contact and when to diminish it (increases the likelihood that the eyewitness will be calm and comfortable)
• as well as increasing rapport with the eyewitness (increases the likelihood that they will answer truthfully about personal or sensitive topics)

Question 12

evaluation: evidence support (Kohnken) + ELAB

Answer 12

ID: a strength of cognitive interview is that there is evidence to support
Q: this comes from Kohnken, who conducted research on the effectiveness of the cognitive interview
EX: for example, he conducted a meta-analysis of 53 studies, and found that cognitive interviews increased the amount of accuracy by 34%, compared to standard police interviews. it was concluded that the cognitive interview was a more effective interview technique
AN: this is a strength as it supports the view that the cognitive interview can increase the accuracy of EWT
ELAB: however, Kohnken also found that despite it increasing accuracy, it also increases the recall of incorrect information by 61%
AN: this appears counterintuitive
when considering that the aim of the CI was to improve the accuracy of recall of correct information and increasing the reliability of EWT as a whole

Question 13

evaluation: lacks practical value

Answer 13

ID: a limitation of the cognitive interview, is that it may have little practical value
Q: this is due to police criticising it for being too time-consuming and requiring specialist skills
EX: for example, Kebbel and Wagstaff argued that only a few hours of training, as is possible for many police forces, is insufficient to adequately train interviewers, especially for the enhanced social understanding required for the enhanced cognitive interview.
AN: this is a limitation as, this lack of
time for training may explain why some forces may be unimpressed with the CI

Question 14

evaluation: beneficial towards economy

Answer 14

ID: despite the CI being criticised for being too time-consuming, there are still factors which benefit the economy
Q: this means that there are features of the cognitive interview that can be used as they’re more important than others
EX: for example, Milne and Bull found that context reinstatement and report everything produced the greatest accuracy of recall of correct
information as compared to any other combinations. this means that even if police forces don’t have enough time to train the entire force for all of the 4 steps involved in the CI, even gradual changes from the standard police interview can increase the accuracy and reliability of EWT.
AN: this is positive as it means that the cognitive interview can be applied to enhance accuracy of EWT, and also increasing the credibility of the stages