improving the accuracy of EWT: cognitive interview

Question 1

what’s the first stage of the cognitive interview?

Answer 1

1.report everything
witnesses encourage every single detail of the event although it may be irrelevant
-trival details may be important and spark other memories

Question 2

what’s the second stage to CI?

Answer 2

2.reinstate the context
-witnesses should return to original crime scene in their mind
-and imagine their environment
e.g weather, what they could see
-and their emotions e.g happy, bored
-related context dependant forgetting

Question 3

what is the third stage to CI?

Answer 3

3.reverse the order
-recall from diff order
-e.g end to beginning
-prevents people recalling how the event must have happened rather than reporting actual events
-prevents dishonesty

Question 4

what’s the fourth stage of CI?

Answer 4

4.chnage perspective
-witness should recall incident from other people’s perspective
e.g from other witnesses or perpetrators
-disruptes the effect of expectations and effect of schema on recall
-such as having a particular schema on a place may affect you having expectations of what may have happened rather than what ACTUALLY happened .

Question 5

what is the enhanced cognitive interview?

Answer 5

fisher et al(1987)
-focused on social dynamics of interaction
-interviewer needs to know when to establish eye contact
-reducing eye witness anxiety
-minimising distractions
-get the witness to speak slow
-ask open ended questions

Question 6

what are the strengths to CI?

Answer 6

(support for the effectiveness of the CI)
-meta analysis by Kohnken et al combined data from 55. studies comparing CI with the standard police interview
-the CI gave 41% increase in accurate information compared to standard interview
- CI is therefore effective in helping witnesses to recall info that’s stored (available) in memory but not immediately accessible

Question 7

what are the weaknesses to the CI?

Answer 7

(counterpoint to support effectiveness)
- Kohnken however found a increase in the amount of inaccurate info recalled by Ps
-cognitive interviews may sacrafice quality of EWT (accuracy) in the favour of quantity (amount of details)

(some elements may be more useful)
-Milne and Bull found using a combo of report everything and reinstate the context produced better recall than any of the other elements or combination of them
-confirmed the police’s suspicions that some aspects of the CI are more useful than others
-doubt on the credibility of the CI

(the CI is time consuming)
-police may be reluctant to use it bc it’s time consuming and needs more training
-e.g need to establish rapport w witness to allow them to relax
-needs extra resources
- not always realistic for police officers to use
- better to focus on jus a few key elements