Improving eye witness testimony

Question 1

Geiselman et al. (1984)

Answer 1

Developed an interviewing technique, the cognitive interview, which has 4 distinct components.

Question 2

4 distinct components of cognitive interview

Answer 2

1). Mental reinstatement of original context 2). Report everything
3). Change order
4). Change perspective – the interviewee is asked to recall the incident from another perspective.

Question 3

Mental reinstatement of original context

Answer 3

The interviewee is encouraged to mentally recreate the physical and psychological environment of the original incident.

Question 4

Report everything

Answer 4

The interviewee is encouraged to report every single detail of the event, without editing anything out.

Question 5

Change order

Answer 5

The interviewee is asked to consider an alternative timeline of the incident, for example reversing the order.

Question 6

Change perspective

Answer 6

The interviewee is asked to recall the incident from another perspective.

Question 7

What might the interviewer say in Mental reinstatement of original context?

Answer 7

I would like you to try and think about the day the event happened. Think about what you may have been doing and try and get a picture of it in your mind.

Question 8

What might the interviewer say in Report everything?

Answer 8

Some people hold back information because they are not quite sure that it is important… please don’t leave anything out.

Question 9

What might the interviewer say in Change order?

Answer 9

I would like you to tell me what happened from the end to the start.

Question 10

What might the interviewer say in Change perspective?

Answer 10

Try to recall the incident from the perspective of another person involved in the incident.

Question 11

One strength of the CI comes from research support

Answer 11

E: Kohnken et al (1999) conducted a meta-analysis of 53 studies and found on average an increase of 34% in the amount of correct information generated in the CI

E: However, it must be noted that the effectiveness of the CI may be due to the individual elements of the CI rather than the whole process.

L: This suggests that the congnitive interview is an effective technique for increasing the amount of correct information generated

Question 12

A criticism of the cognitive interview is the differences found in old vs. young people. Mellow and Fisher (1996)

Answer 12

E: Mellow and Fisher (1996) found that the CI produced significantly more info for older p’s

E: This may be becuase older adults are overly cautious about reporting info and the Ci places an importance on reporting everything.

L: This matter because it suggests that the CI is more effective for older people, in comparison to younger people.

Question 13

A final criticism of the cognitive interview is the difficulty in establishing the effectiveness of the CI

Answer 13

E: When the CI is used in the real world it is not just one ‘procedure’ but a collection of related techniques

E: For example, the Thame valley police use a version that does not include ‘changing perspectives’.

L: This matters because it is difficult to conclude which component(s) of the CI are effective and which increase the quality and quantity of info produced

Question 14

What AO3 are you using – both strengths and weaknesses?

Answer 14

Strengths
1. comes from research support

Weaknesses

The differences found in old vs. young people.
The difficulty in establishing the effetiveness of the CI