Improving the accuracy of eye witness testimony

Question 1

The features of the standard interview

Answer 1

-Witnesses are asked a large number of closed questions in a short period of time
-The order of these questions did not match the witnesses own mental representation of events
-The witnesses were not able to freely recall their experience as they were frequently interrupted

Question 2

Cognitive interview process/ what is it

Answer 2

-The cognitive interview is a raneg of techniques suggested by Fisher and Gieselman (1985) that can be used by police interviewers to improve the accuracy of eye witness testimonies
PROCESS
-TThe first feature of the cognitive interview is context reinstatement; this is asking the witness to mentally return to the scene of the crime, including imagining the physical environment and the mental state they were in at the time (this is based on state/context cues)
-The seconds feature is report everything; this is getting the witness to say every detail of the crime scene, even if it might seem irrelevant as this may trigger memories
-The third feature is changing perspective; this is when the witness is asked to mentally reconstruct the crime scene from the perspective of another witness/ the perpetrator, this disrupts the schema and leads to less biased testimonies
-The last feature is reversing the order events; This is when the witness is asked to change the chronology of event such as end to beginning or middle to start. This challenges schemas again

Question 3

Fisher and Geiselman (1989) case study on detectives using the CI or SI (positive research evaluation for effectiveness)

Answer 3

-Fisher and Gieselman (1989) conducted a field study comparing detectives who had been trained with cognitive interview techniques with detectives who used the standard interview (untrained)
-It was found that the trained detectives gained 63% more information than the untrained detectives during interviews
-This demonstrates the effectiveness of cognitive interview techniques in improving memory and increasing the amount of information gathered by police interviewers operating in the real world

Question 4

Meta analysis of studies and interviews (positive + negative) CI has more accurate and incorrect information

Answer 4

-A meta analysis of 42 studies including 2500 interviews showed that the amount of accurate information was significantly higher when using cognitive interview techniques compared to the standard interview
-However, the cognitive interview also produced significantly higher amounts of incorrect information, resulting in similar levels of accuracy between the cognitive interview and the standard interview
-This reduces the practical applicability of the cognitive interview, due to increased errors

Question 5

Additional evaluation (Time consuming however may be worth it from a cost benefit perspective) negative + positive good luck for ur exam tomorrow lil bro u got this xxxx

Answer 5

-A disadvantage of cognitive interview is that it is time consuming and may not be appropriate for time-sensitive cases. Additionally, the Cognitive interview requires significant training which is expensive and diverts police officers from their normal work; these issues may mean that the cognitive interview is not used due to limited police time and financial resources
-However, from a cost benefit analysis perspective, some may argue that the additional resources used to train officers in the cognitive interview are worth it as the cognitive interview ultimately reduces crimes and it’s effects on wider society