cognitive interview

Question 1

the cognitive interview

Answer 1

a police technique for interviewing witnesses to a crime, which encourages them to recreate the original context of the crime in order to increase the accessibility of stored information

Question 2

report everything

Answer 2

• witnesses are encouraged to include every single detail of the event, even though it may seem irrelevant

Question 3

mental reinstatement of original context

Answer 3

• the witness should return to the original crime scene ‘in their mind’ and imagine the environment, the weather and their emotions

Question 4

change/reverse order

Answer 4

• events recalled in different chronological order to original sequence
• this is done to prevent people reporting expectation of how the event must of happened rather than actual events
• also prevents dishonesty

Question 5

change the perspective

Answer 5

• witnesses should recall event from other peoples perspectives
• this is done to distrupt the effect of expectations and schema

Question 6

4 factors of cognitive interview

Answer 6

• report everything
• reinstate context
• reverse order
• change perspective

Question 7

enhanced cognitive interview

Answer 7

• fisher et al
• noticed that officers often lacked social skills requires for the cognitive interview
• ECI includes ways to reduce EW-anxiety, minimise distractions, getting witnesses to speak slowly and asking open-ended questions

Question 8

limitation: time-consuming

Answer 8

• police may be more reluctant to use CI because it takes much more time than the standard police interview
• more time needed to establish rapport with witness to reduce anxiety and allow them to relax
• requires special training and many forces may not be able to provide more than a few hours
• it is unlikely that proper CI is used, and may explain why police are not that impressed by it and rarely use it

Question 9

Kohnken et al

Answer 9

• combined data from 50 studies (meta-analysis)
• the enhanced CI consistently provided more correct information than the standard interview used by police
• this is a strength as it shows real practical benefits of ECI
• shows police have a greater chance of catching and charging criminals, which is beneficial to society as a whole (economic implications)