improving the accuracy of eyewitness testimony Flashcards
what are the limitations of eyewitness testimony
it is seen as inaccurate. numerous research studies have indicated that EWT lacks accuracy due to anxiety, leading questions and post event contamination
what did Fisher study (1987)
what was happening in real police stations in Florida when interviewing witnesses.
what was the term coined for the interview techniques used in Florida
the standard interview
what is the standard interview
-witnesses were given a large number of quick, direct and closed questions in a short time.
-the order of questions were not asked in a way that matched witnesses own personal, mental representation of the event
-witnesses weren’t able to freely talk about their experience as they were frequently interrupted by the investigator.
how did Fisher and Gieselman fix the standard interview
by developing the cognitive interview
what are the four stages of the cognitive interview
- context reinstatement
- reverse the order
- report everything
- change perspective
what is “context reinstatement”
asking the witness to mentally return to the scene of the crime. imagining the physical environment as well as what mental and emotional state they were in. based on cue dependant forgetting (state/context). this process should act as a cue to memory
what is “report everything”
asking the witness to say every detail they can remember even if they seem irrelevant to trigger memories
what is “change perspective”
recall again but mentally put yourself in the position of somebody else (another witness, the victim or even criminal). process is supposed to disrupt the witnesses schema leading to testimony with less bias
what is “reverse order”
could literally be to recall the events backwards but its really about changing the chronology - starting from the middle forwards or going from the middle backwards. likely to disrupt schema by not allowing the witness to rely on what they expect to have happened.
what is the enhanced cognitive interview
range of additional suggestions to help the witness feel more comfortable in the situation
- interviewer not distracting witness
- witness controlling flow of information
- open-ended questions
- reminded not to guess and use ‘dont know’ option if necessary
- reduce anxiety in witness and getting them to relax
why is the enhanced cognitive interview sometimes used
helps establish rapport between the interviewer and the interviewee
what did Fisher and Geiselman do to test their ideas about the cognitive interview (1989)
conducted field research
16 detectives from a real police department took part
7 were trained in the use of the cognitive interview
remaining 9 continued with the standard interview
what were the results of the Fisher and Gieselman experiment
cognitive interview detectives gained 47% more information after their training and 63% more than the detectives that continued with the standard interview
what do the results of the Fisher and Gieselman experiment suggest
when it comes to improving the amount of EWT, the cognitive interview is more effective in enhancing memory.
what is good about the Fisher and Gieselman experiment
has high validity as it comes from real detectives working on real cases
Name a study that partially supports the cognitive interview
Kohnken et al (1999)
What was the Kohnken et al (1999) study and what were the findings
In a meta analysis of 42 studies including over 2500 interviews provides partial support for the CI.
There was a significant increase in the amount of incorrect information recalled. The results showed similiar overall accuracy rate with the CI with 85% accuracy and SI with 82%
while the quantity of information is more with CI, the accuracy of that information doesnt seem to be any more accurate than the SI.
How did Milne and Bull (2002) look at the cognitive interview
they looked at each aspect of the cognitive interview to see which instructions may be increasing the quantity of information recalled.
they found no difference between each instruction but they saw a significant increase in the combination of context reinstatement and recall everything
this suggests the increased information we get from the cognitive interview may come from the combined effects of all the factors together
Why is the cognitive interview considered to be time consuming
in the real world, detectives may have limited time available to them. they are working on other cases and perhaps the case itself requires the information quickly. the cognitive interview requires significant training and this is the time which officers may need to spend on other cases.
How does the cognitive interview affect the economy
to train detectives and officers to perform the cognitive interview cost money and police forces may not have the financial resources available to them to use the cognitive interview
what is the cost benefit of the cognitive interview
when thinking about overall cost to the economy, the CI may be worth the additional resources. it would lead to a police force more able to combat crime and reduce the effect of crime on society therefore leading to a more effective police force
give other weaknesses of the cognitive interview
- not effective in identity parades and in improving recognition of suspects from photographs (which is one of the main uses of EWT). this limits the effectiveness of the CI
- the normal CI is effective on adults and older children but isnt effective on younger children as they are egocentric (they only see the world from their own perspective)
how did Holliday combat the problem of the CI not being effective on children
they developed a modified cognitive interview (MCI) shown to be effective in 4-5 year olds. this modified version is better adapted to their developmental level
