the cognitive interview Flashcards
introduction
In the 1970s/80s there were increased criticism of traditional police interviewing techniques.
• Focus on the interviewer
• Specific questions - closed
• Forced choice answers
• Predetermined Qs
This lead to the development of several interviewing techniques based on psychological principles:
The cognitive interview-Fisher et al.
techniques used in the cognitive interview
Reinstate Context-
Mentally recreate the physical and psychological environment of the original incident. The aim is to make memories accessible through contextual and emotional cues.
Report Everything-
The interviewer encourages the reporting of every single detail of the event without editing anything.
Witnesses should not leave anything out, even if they think it is insignificant.
Change the Perspective-
Witnesses are asked to recall the event from multiple perspectives, for example by imaging how it may have appeared to other witnesses
Change the Order-
The Interviewer may attempt to run through the events in a different order, for example in reverse.
concepts in psychology
Context and explain everything-Retrieval Failure-
Forgetting occurs due to the absence of the necessary cues.
• The Cl aims to provide cues to aid recall.
Reverse and someone else’s perspective-Schema
• A cognitive framework that helps us to sort and interpret lots of information quickly.
• Helps us to predict what is going to happen, and informs us on how we should behave based on on our experience.
• Cl prevents people from reporting their expectations.
questions in the cognitive interview
context-“I would like you to think back to that day. Try to get a clear picture in your mind. Think of the objects that were there, the colours, smells, sounds.
How were you feeling?”
everything-“Please tell me what happened on that day.
Start at the beginning; leave nothing out; I am interested in absolutely everything.”
different perspective-“Try to recall the incident from the perspective of another person involved.
Describe what he/she would have seen.”
reverse order-“I would like you to tell me what happened
backwards. I know it sounds hard, but start with the very last thing you remember?”
the enhanced cognitive interview
Fisher et al. (1987) also developed some additional elements of the cognitive interview.
• Focus was more on the social dynamics of the situation.
• Making and relinquishing eye contact
• Reducing anxiety
• Minimising distractions
• Witness to breathe slowly
• Open ended questions
strength-research support for CI
Fisher et al. (1989) examined the effectiveness of the cognitive interview in real police interviews.
16 experienced detectives recorded a selection of their interviews, using a standard interviewing technique. The detectives were then divided into two groups. One group was trained to use the cognitive interview, while the other (control) group continued using the standard interview.
After training, their subsequent interviews were recorded and analysed. The trained detectives elicited 46% more information after their cognitive interview training, in comparison to the control group. Where it was possible to confirm the information, over 90% of it was found to be accurate.
These results support the effectiveness of the cognitive interview, using real police interviews and highlights the fact the Cl can be useful in catching and charging criminals, which is a benefit to society as a whole..
strength-research support for CI
One strength of the cognitive interview is the evidence that it actually works.
For example, a meta analysis by Köhnken et al. (1999) combined data from 55 studies comparing the Cl to standard police interviews.
The Cl gave an average 41% increase in accurate information compared with the standard interview. Only 4 studies in the analysis showed no difference between the types of interview.
This shows that the Cl is an effective technique in helping witnesses to recall information that is stored in memory but is not immediately available.
limitation-quality may suffer
A criticism of the Cl is that its effectiveness has largely been in terms of quantity of information rather than quality.
For example, in their research Köhnken et al. 1999) also found an increase in the amount of inaccurate information recalled by participants. This was a particular issue in the enhanced cognitive interview, which produced more incorrect details than the standard cognitive interview. Cognitive interviews may sacrifice quality of eyewitness testimony in favour of quantity of information
This means that police need to treat all information collected from Cis with caution. It does not guarantee accuracy.
limitation-problems with the CI in practice
Another criticism of the Cl is the amount of time and training needed to implement it.
For example, more time is needed to establish rapport with a witness and allow them to relax. The cognitive interview also require special training and many forces do not have the resources to provide more than a few hours (Kebell and Wagstaff 1997). These limitations have meant that the use of the Cl in police interviews has not been widespread or effectively/properly implemented.
This suggests that the complete cognitive interview is not a realistic method for police officers to use and it may be better to just focus on a few key elements.
