improving the accuracy of eyewitness testimony - cognitive interview Flashcards
cognitive interview
a method of interviewing EWs to help them retrieve more accurate memories.
it uses 4 main techniques, all based on evidence-based psychological knowledge of human memory.
what are the stages of the cognitive interview?
- report everything
- reinstate the context
- reverse the order
- change perspective
ronald fisher and edward geiselman (1992)
argued that EWT could be improved if the police used better techniques when interviewing witnesses.
fisher and geiselman recommend that such techniques should be based on psychological insights into how memory works, and called these techniques collectively the cognitive interview to indicate its foundation in cognitive psychology.
- report everything
witness are encouraged to include every single detail of the event, even though it may seen irrelevant.
seemingly trivial details may be important and trigger other important memories.
- reinstate the context
the witness should return to the original crime ‘in their mind’ and imagine the environment (such as what the weather was like, what they could see) and their emotions (such as whether they were happy or bored). this is related to context-dependent forgetting.
- reverse the order
events should be recalled in a different order from the original sequence, for example the final point back to the beginning, or the middle to the beginning.
this is done to prevent people reporting their expectations of how the event must have happened rather than reporting the actual events.
it also prevents dishonesty as its harder for people to produce an untruthful account if they have to reverse it.
change perspective
witnesses should recall the incident from other peoples perspective.
e.g. how it would have appeared to other witnesses or to the perpetrator.
this again is done to disrupt the effect of expectations and also the effect of schema on recall.
the schema you have for a particular setting (such as going to the shop) generate expectations of what would have happened and it is the schema that is recalled rather than what actually happened.
the enhanced cognitive interview (ECI)
fisher et al. (1987) developed some additional elements of the CI to focus on the social dynamics of the interaction.
e.g. the interviewer needs to know when to establish eye contact and when to relinquish it.
the ECI also includes ideas such as reducing EW anxiety, minimising distractions, getting the witness to speak slowly and asking open-ended questions.
strength - CI
p - evidence to support effectiveness
e - meta analysis by gunter kohnken et al (1999) combined data from 55 studies comparing the CI (and the ECI) with the standard police interview.
e - only 4 studies in the analysis showed no difference between the types of interview.
l - this shows that the CI is an effective technique in helping witnesses to recall information that is stored in memory (available) but not immediately accessible.
limitation - CI
p - time consuming compared to standard police interview as police officers may be reluctant to use the CI.
e - more time is needed to establish rapport with a witness and allow them to relax. the CI also requires special training and many forces do not have the recourses to provide more than a few hours (kebbell and wagstaff 19997).
l - this suggests that the complete CI as it exists is not a realistic method for police officers to use and it might be better to focus on just a few key elements.
