improving the accuracy of eyewitness testimony- cognitive interviews Flashcards
what is a cognitive interview?
proceduee used in police investigations when interviewing eyewitnesses
who developed cognitive interviews?
Geiselman et al and Field (1985)
why did they create cognitive interviews
to improve effectiveness of police interviews
use results of psychological research (Loftus) in the area of police interviews on witnesses and their memory of events
how many components does cognitive interview have and what are they?
4
1. context reinstatement
2. report everything
3. recall in reverse order
4. recall from a different perspective
what is context reinstatement ?
- eyewitness is asked to recall and recreate the physical and psychological environment of the incident mentally (return to original crime scene ‘in their mind’)
purpose of context reinstatement
- make memories more accessible by giving contextual and emotional cues —> context - dependent forgetting
explain report everthing
- report all details of event without any editing of seemingly relevant details
purpose of report everything
- one specific memory may connect to another and may act as a cue for other memories to create a clearer idea of the whole event
explain recall in reverse order
- recall events in reverse of different chronological order
purpose or recalling events in different order?
- schemas influence perspectives and recollection of events so recalling in diff order prevents pre conceived ideas from influencing what’s recalled
—> prevents ppl from lying as harder to be dishonest when asked to describe events in alternative order
explain change perspective
- eyewitnesses asked to recall events from perspective of other witnesses or the perpetrator
purpose of changing the perspective
- disrupts effects of schemas and prevents schema from overlaying the memory
who came up with the enhanced cognitive interview?
fisher et al 1987
what is enhanced cognitive interview
- focuses on social dynamics of the interaction
e.g. interviewer needs to know when to establish eye contact etc
what does enhanced cognitive interview aim to do
- help reduce eyewitness anxiety and minimise distractinn in a getting eyewitness to talk slowly
- uses open-ended questions etc
- builds training relationship between interviewed and eyewitnesses = better communication
eval point 1
- supporting research on effectiveness of cognitive interview= meta analysis from Kohnken et al 1999
—> analysed 55 different studies coming CI and standard police interviews
—> found CI improved accuracy or eyewitness by 41% =it’s more effective procedure to aid witness memories that are available but not immediately accessible after an event
BUT
Krohnken also found an increase in numbers of inaccuracies in memory recall of events —> suggests CI improves quantity not quality of details (accuracy) of memories reduced - ECIs produced more incorrect details than CI
eval point 2
not all components of CI are useful and effective at recalling accurate details of an event
- Milne and Bull found that combining the stages ‘report everthung’ and ‘reinstate the context’ gave better accuracy than other stages of CI when shed alone —> suggest some components more effective than ithers = reduces credibility of CI overall
eval point 3
- CI is time consuming process
- police officers time is limited so they may be reluctant to carry out CI due to time in conducting the interview and training police interviews the technique = CI not a realistic procedure
eval point 4
police officers take ‘pick and mix’ approach to techniques in CI= more flexible and individuals can work with what’s best with them
BUT it’s the hard to establish effectiveness of CI
eval point 5
CI may aid elderly witnesses in recalling accurate details of events —> Mello and Fisher 1996 found CI more effective for older ppts compared to younger
eval point 6
- Coker 2013 found ECI produced more accurate details compared to CI —> especially for personal details
BUT
timing of ECI is vital (greatest effect= 1 week post event)
