improving eye witness testimony

Question 1

Geiselman et al. (1984)

Answer 1

Developed an interviewing technique, the cognitive interview, which has 4 distinct component.

Question 2

4 distinct components of cognitive interview

Answer 2

1. Mental reinstatement of original context
2. Report everything
3. Change order
4. Change perspective - the interviewee is asked to recall the incident from another prespective

Question 3

Mental reinstatement of original context

Answer 3

The intervieww is encouraged to mentally recreate the physical and psychological enviroment of original incident.

Question 4

Report everything

Answer 4

the intervieww is encouraged to report every single single detail of the event, without editing anything out.

Question 5

Change order

Answer 5

the interviewe is asked to consider an alternative timeline of the incident, for example reversing the order.

Question 6

Change perspective

Answer 6

The interviewee is asked to recall the incident from another prespective

Question 7

What the interviwer say in Mental reinstatement of original context?

Answer 7

I would like you to try and think about the day the event happened. Think about what you may have been doing and try and get a picture of it in your mind

Question 8

What might the interviewer say in report everything?

Answer 8

Some people hold back information because they are not quite sure that is is important .. please to leave anything out

Question 9

What might the interviwer say in change order/

Answer 9

I would like you to tell me what happened from the end to the start

Question 10

What might the interview say in change perspective?

Answer 10

Try to recall the incident from the perspective of another person inolved in the incident.

Question 11

AO3

Question 12

One strength of the CI comes from research support

Answer 12

E: Kohnken et al (1999) conducted a meta-analysis of 53 studies and found on average an increase of 34% in the amount of correct information generated in the CI

E: However, it must be noted that the effectiveness of the CI may be due to the individual elements of the CI rather than the whole process.

L: This suggests that the congnitive interview is an effective technique for increasing the amount of correct information generated

Question 13

A critcism of the cognitive interview is the differences found in old vs. young people.

Mellow and Fisher (1996)

Answer 13

E: Mellow and Fisher (1996) found that the CI produced significantly more info for older p’s

E: This may be becuase older adults are overly cautious about reporting info and the Ci places an importance on reporting everything.

L: This matter because it suggests that the CI is more effective for older people, in comparison to younger people.

Question 14

A final criticism of the cognitive interview is the difficulty in establishing the effetiveness of the CI

Answer 14

E: When the CI is used in the real world it is not just one ‘procedure’ but a collection of related techniques

E: For example, the Thame valley police use a version that does not include ‘changing perspectives’.

L: This matters because it is difficult to conclude which component(s) of the CI are effective and which increase the quality and quantity of info produced

Question 15

What AO3 are you using both strengths and weaknesses?

Answer 15

Strengths
1. comes from research support

Weaknesses

2. The differences found in old vs. young people.
3. The difficulty in establishing the effetiveness of the CI