Improving The Accuracy Of Eye Witness Testimony

Question 1

What is the standard interview?

Answer 1

Traditional interview where interviewer did most of the talking and generally asked closed questions that tended to be prepared in advance of the actual interview. Research suggesting it increased amount of inaccurate info and encouraged withholding of info.

Question 2

What are the 4 stages of the cognitive interview?

Answer 2

1. Recreate the context / cognitive reinstatement (mentally recreate emotional and environmental context of event eg what they feel, hear etc)
2. Report everything
3. Recall in different orders (asked to describe eg from the middle to end or reverse)
4. Change perspectives (recall from different viewpoints eg what other EW’s saw)

Question 3

What theory underpins the first 2 stages of the cognitive interview?

Answer 3

Encoding specificity theory. Suggests that as many retrieval cues should be present as possible to aid memory retrieval. Recreating context involves identifying state/personal cues and context/environment cues. Report everything = details can trigger important memories.

Question 4

What theory underpins the second two stages of the cognitive interview?

Answer 4

Designed to increase accurate recall because they disrupt the EW’s previous knowledge and expectations. They reduce the impact of schemas on recall. Recalling in reverse reduces potential dishonesty.

Question 5

Describe research into the effectiveness of the CI.

Answer 5

Pps were shown a police training video of a violent crime and interviewed 48 hrs later with the SI or CI. There was no difference in the amount of incorrect info recalled but the SI produced the least amount of information and the most accurate info was with the CI.

Question 6

Give 2 strengths of the CI.

Answer 6

Research explained before

meta analysis of 53 studies. On average there was 34% more correct info recalled in a CI compared to SI.

Question 7

Give 3 criticisms of the CI.

Answer 7

The CI is a collection of techniques not a procedure, so researchers using lab experiments might use different techniques in their procedures. Evidence in real world the police use CI different ways too - eg one police force doesn’t use the change perspectives technique, so assessing effectiveness is hard.

Investigations Claiming CI is effective focus on quantity not quality which is opposite of the aim. Procedure doesn’t guarantee accuracy

Interviews are time consuming eg more time needed to establish rapport w witness compared to SI. more training required putting pressure on resources. ‘Full’ versions likely not used reducing overall effectiveness