Improving the accuracy of eyewitness testimony: cognitive interview Flashcards
What do Fisher & Gieselman argue about eyewitness testimony?
-argued that ET could be improved if police used better techniques when interviewing witnesses.
What do Fisher & Gieselman recommend?
techniques should be based on psychological insights - such as the cognitive interview
What are the four main techniques used in the cognitive interview?
-report everything
-reinstate the context
-reverse the order
-change perspective
explain report everything technique
-witnesses are encouraged to include every single detail of the event even though it may seem irrelevant
Why is the reporting everything technique effective?
-trivial details may be important and may trigger other memories
explain reinstate the context technique
-witnesses should return to original crime scene ‘in their mind’
-imagine the environment and what their emotions were like
Why is the reinstate the context technique effective?
- linked to context-dependent forgetting
- more likely to recall information if we are in environment where encoding took place
Explain reverse the order technique
-events should be recalled in a different order from original sequence i.e. middle to beginning
Why is the reverse the order technique effective?
-prevents people reporting their expectations of how the event happened
-also prevents dishonesty (harder to lie)
explain change the perspective technique
-Witnesses should recall the incident from other peoples perspective i.e. witnesses or the perpetrator
Why is the change the perspective technique effective?
disrupts the effect of schema on recall (expectation of what happened in a particular setting)
What additional elements did Fisher develop and why?
-The enhanced cognitive interview (ECI)
- developed to focus on the social dynamics of the interaction e.g.
-interviewer needs to know when to maintain eye contact
-reducing eyewitness anxiety
-minimise distractions
-close-ended questions
What research is there to support the effectiveness of the cognitive interview?
-Kohnken et al conducted a meta-analysis combining data from 55 studies comparing the CI with standard police interviews
-CI increased accuracy by 41% compared to standard police interview
-CI=effective
What is a counterpoint for research support for the effectiveness of the CI?
-Kohnken also found an increase in the amount of inaccurate information recalled by P’s
-particular issue in ECI
-Cognitive interviews may sacrifice quality of EWT in favour of quantity
- PO’s treat evidence with caution
Why is doubt casted on the credibility of the CI?
-not all elements of the CI are equally effective or useful
-Milne & Bull found that each of the four techniques used alone produced more info than the standard police interview
-combo of ‘report everything’ & ‘reinstate the context’ produced better recall than any other elements
