Improving Eye Witness Testimony Flashcards
how do you improve the eye witness testimony
THE COGNITIVE INTERVIEW
who developed the cognitive interview
Fisher and Geislman
what are the 4 main parts of the cognitive interview
report everything
context reinstatement
reverse the order
change perspective
what is ‘report everything’ in the cognitive interview
the witness includes every piece of detail that they can about an event
whether they feel it relevant or not they should include every detail possible
what is the aim of the ‘report everything’ in cognitive interview
act as a cue to trigger more info
what is ‘context reinstatement’ in the cognitive interview
the witness should return to the scene of the event in their mind trying to reimagine the context of the situation
e.g what the wetaher was like, their emotion
what is the aim of context reinstatement in the cognitive interview
to trigger cues to trigger more information
what is ‘reverse the order’ in the cognitive interview
the events are recalled in a different order to the original sequence
what is the aim of ‘reverse the order’ in the cognitive interview
people dont report their expectations removing schemas of an event
what is ‘change perspective’ in the cognitive interview
witnesses should try to recall events from a different persons perspective
e.g what would they have seen if they were the perpetrator
what is the aim of ‘ change perspective’ in the cognitive interview
this is done to disrupt the effects of expectations of recall and the impact of schema on recall
who investigated improving eye-witness testimony
geiselman (1986)
What was the aim of Geiselmans investigation into the cognitive interview
To investigate the effectiveness of the cognitive interview
What was the procedure of geiselmans investigation into the cognitive interview
An intruder carried a blue rucksack enters classroom and stole a projector
Two days later p.t were questioned about the event with either a standard interview or a cognitive interview
P.t asked ‘was the guy with the green backpack nervous’ ~ leading Q
Later in interview asked ‘what color the man’s rucksack was’
What were the findings of Geiselman experiment into the cognitive interview
P.t in the cognitive interview condition were less likely to recall the rucksack as being green than those given the standard interview
What did geiselman conclude after his experiment into the cognitive interviews effectiveness
The cognitive interview technique enhances memory recall and reduces the effect of leading Q’s
Weakness of the cognitive interview
P: Police may be reluctant to use the cognitive interview because it takes up more time than standard police interview.
E:For example more time is needed to establish rapport with the witness allow them to relax.
E:The cognitive interview also require special training increasing costs
L:This means it is unlikely that the proper version of cognitive interview is actually used which makes being my police have not been not impressed by it.
Strengths of using the cognitive interview
P: Research suggests that the enhanced cognitive interview offers special benefits.
E: For example meta-analysis by Kohnken (1999) combined data from 50 studies.
E: The enhanced cognitive interview consistently provided more correct information than the standard interview used by police.
L: This is a strength because studies such as this would indicate that there are real practical benefits to the police of using the enhanced version of the cognitive interview increasing ability to catch criminals improving society overall.
