Amina Memon
Background: Collection and use of evidence from witnesses and suspects
Key Study: Memon, & Higham, (1999) A review of the cognitive interview.
Strategy: Police interviews
Key Study: Memon, & Higham, (1999) A review of the cognitive interview.
Strategy: Police interviews
Background: Standard Interview (SI)
This involves free recall, followed by some specific questions
Background: Geiselman et al (1985) - the Cognitive Interview based on four instructions:
Background: The Cognitive Interview
This involves free recall, followed by some specific questions
- The SI has four stages:
- Orientation
- Listening
- Questions and Answers
- Advice.
Background: Geiselman et al (1985) - the Cognitive Interview based on four instructions:
- Recreate the context of original incident (Try to recall an image of the setting – weather, lighting, how you were feeling at time etc.)
- Report every detail (Even if it doesn’t seem important)
- Recall the event in different orders (i.e. reverse order)
- Change perspectives (Recall from perspective of other people who were there)
Background: The Cognitive Interview
- Uses open questions
- Allows detailed responses
- Has minimal distractions & interruptions
- Involves actively listen to the witness
- Has paused after each question to allow the witness to concentrate and think, and to talk freely.
- Enable witnesses to use imagery
- Avoids judgemental comments which put the witness off
- Adapts language to suit individuals
- Acknowledges that the sequence of events is important.
Memon and Higham (1999) A review of the cognitive interview
Review article
A critique of the Cognitive Interview (CI) covering four themes:
Effectiveness of the components of the CI: Four key components:
Comparison with other interview methods
Measuring memory performance
Quality of training
Review article
A critique of the Cognitive Interview (CI) covering four themes:
- How effective each of the components of the CI are
- Comparison with other interview methods (Guided Interview, Standard Police Interview, Structured Interview)
- How to measure memory performance
- How training quality influences interviewer performance.
Effectiveness of the components of the CI: Four key components:
- Witness mentally reconstructs the event – Context Reinstatement
- Witness is asked to report everything
- Recall is encouraged from a variety of perspectives
- Retrieval is attempted from different starting points.
- Methodological problems with isolating effective components of the CI.
- Research suggests context reinstatement is the most effective.
- Enhanced Cognitive Interview (ECI) emphasizes effective communication between interviewer and witness (e.g. active listening, open questions).
- Effectiveness is an interplay between context reinstatement and improved communication.
- Mental imagery is also an adapted feature of the CI in aiding retrieval.
Comparison with other interview methods
- Problems with obtaining control groups
- The Guided Memory Interview (GMI) doesn’t ask as many probing questions as the CI and is affected by interviewer variables but is a better comparison due to similar features to the CI.
- The Structured Interview (SI) is also similar to the CI in terms of effective interviewer skills and questioning but does not employ the cognitive technique.
- Both GMI and SI are better control groups than the Standard Police Interview.
Measuring memory performance
- This in effect is the DV in the research – how memory is measured. A lot of the research is laboratory-based. The most common measure is % of interview statements that are correct/incorrect. The research ignores the amount/ nature of the reported information. It doesn’t allow for an effective measure of how memory operates.
- Recent strategies focused on establishing whether the participants ‘know/remember’ whether a series of events occurred.
Quality of training
- Early studies did not specify amount and quality of training.
- ECI places cognitive demands (e.g. memory questioning) on the interviewer – more than structured interviews. Therefore quality and quantity of training are keys to its effectiveness.
- Individual differences of interviewers are key, e.g. attitudes, motivation, prior experience.
- Some police officers show resistance to being trained but this depends on wh’s doing it
- Limited research into taking baseline measures e.g. interviewing skills pre-training. This is a methodological issue.
- Feedback on interviewer performance is important.
- Training needs to focus on: length, quality, background and attitudes of the interviewers.
PEACE model of interviewing: 5 key elements
- Preparation and planning
- Engage and explain
- Account
- Closure
- Evaluation.
- HOW - Interviewers encouraged to plan it carefully - including collating all the information that is known and setting out objectives for the interview
- HOW - Interviewers need to engage with the witness and form a rapport, making them feel more comfortable to explain everything and want to help. WHY – operant conditioning (Chaney)
- HOW - Interviewers should allow the witness to give their account of the event without being disrupted, using open questions rather than closed. WHY - Grant to use contextual cues present at encoding and storage of the memory, such as the features of the room, emotional reactions, heat, sounds and smells. These cues will help to trigger the memory and allow full retrieval of it.
- HOW - Should use context reinstatement to get as much out of the witness. WHY - Memon & Higham - this component of the CI was most effective and gains the greatest number of accurate details to be recalled.
- HOW - Interviews close the interview appropriately.
- HOW - Interviewers evaluate the interview and establish whether everything that was required has been covered or if there were any inconsistencies.
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Using the research by Memon and Higham (1999), explain how evidence is collected from witnesses and suspects. [10]
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Memon and Higham’s research was a review essay which aimed to analyse issues and research surrounding the Cognitive Interview. The essay was separated into 4 sections. Section 1 = effectiveness of components of the CI technique, where they found the most effective technique was context reinstatement as it allowed more to be remembered due to accessing context dependent cues. Section 2 = comparison of interviews. To judge whether the CI is good, they need to compare it to other interviews which use context reinstatement and rapport building. Section 3 = measuring memory. This needs to go beyond number of correct items recalled and also consider whether it helps the person to reveal detail more accurate and detailed information even if it is embarrassing. Section 4 = quality of training. M&H concluded that for CI to be used successfully, the police need to have intensive (2 day) training by experienced colleagues.
Evidence is collected from witnesses using interviews, which should have some form of context reinstatement, to ensure that the witness can use the context dependent cues to support their memory recall. There are a range of interview styles used, such as the standard interview, cognitive and PEACE techniques. M&H have shown that the best of these use context reinstatement and rapport building. The interviews used to collect evidence can last for a significant amount of time, as M&H have shown that memory should be operationalised in terms of what the process allows and supports the witness / suspect to say, rather than just the number of correct items recalled. Lastly, evidence from witnesses and suspects should be collected by a person trained in the interview techniques, by an experienced colleague, rather than a university lecturer, and for a significant amount of time
Evidence is collected from witnesses using interviews, which should have some form of context reinstatement, to ensure that the witness can use the context dependent cues to support their memory recall. There are a range of interview styles used, such as the standard interview, cognitive and PEACE techniques. M&H have shown that the best of these use context reinstatement and rapport building. The interviews used to collect evidence can last for a significant amount of time, as M&H have shown that memory should be operationalised in terms of what the process allows and supports the witness / suspect to say, rather than just the number of correct items recalled. Lastly, evidence from witnesses and suspects should be collected by a person trained in the interview techniques, by an experienced colleague, rather than a university lecturer, and for a significant amount of time
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Discuss the free will - determinism debate in relation to research into the collection of evidence from witnesses. [15]
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Determinism is the view that free will is an illusion, and that our behaviour is governed by internal or external forces over which we have no control. This then means that behaviour is predictable. Collecting evidence from witnesses using interviews could be seen as deterministic because the way in which the questions are presented in an interview will determine whether the response is valid. Loftus and Palmer showed how leading questions can change the output of behaviour. Knowing that leading questions and post-event information will determine the answers and the usefulness of the evidence collected from witnesses means that the police may want to consider carefully what types of questions are posed, depending on whether the person is a witness or a suspect. However, some may argue that PEI will not change the person’s memory as witnessing a crime is accompanied by significant distress.
While determinism is the view that a person has no control over our behaviour, there are varying degrees of determinism, including environmental, hard and soft determinism. Environmental determinism shows how the physical environment and society around a person will determine the behaviour shown. The focus on context reinstatement in police interviews aims to access this, by drawing on the context dependent cues when the information was inputted, such as the weather, sights and smells. If the environment determines the behaviour, identifying and replicating the environment, helps to jog the memory. However, much of the detail surrounding the circumstances of the memory when it was inputted may not have been paid attention to, so it is now definite that drawing on the context will enable a person to give a fuller description of the event.
Free will is the idea that we can play an active role and have choice in how we behave. The assumption is that individuals are free to choose their behaviour and are self-determined. For example, people can make a free choice as to whether to commit a crime or not. Therefore, a person is responsible for their own actions, and it is impossible to predict human behaviour with any precision. Needing to have so much rapport building during police interviews with witnesses suggests that people are choosing whether or not to please the interviewer with the amount of detail being recalled, even if this is an unconscious choice.
While determinism is the view that a person has no control over our behaviour, there are varying degrees of determinism, including environmental, hard and soft determinism. Environmental determinism shows how the physical environment and society around a person will determine the behaviour shown. The focus on context reinstatement in police interviews aims to access this, by drawing on the context dependent cues when the information was inputted, such as the weather, sights and smells. If the environment determines the behaviour, identifying and replicating the environment, helps to jog the memory. However, much of the detail surrounding the circumstances of the memory when it was inputted may not have been paid attention to, so it is now definite that drawing on the context will enable a person to give a fuller description of the event.
Free will is the idea that we can play an active role and have choice in how we behave. The assumption is that individuals are free to choose their behaviour and are self-determined. For example, people can make a free choice as to whether to commit a crime or not. Therefore, a person is responsible for their own actions, and it is impossible to predict human behaviour with any precision. Needing to have so much rapport building during police interviews with witnesses suggests that people are choosing whether or not to please the interviewer with the amount of detail being recalled, even if this is an unconscious choice.
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C style strategy question
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The psychologist could recommend that the LHPS should conduct witness interviews using the PEACE interviewing framework. This is because everyone who conducts these interviews has to be trained thoroughly in how to do them, so there would be more consistency. Memon and Higham have showed that consistency is an issue in the outcomes of interviews.
The first stage in the PEACE technique is planning and preparation, such as planning the list of points that need to be proved for an offence to have been committed, how to overcome barriers such as language barriers, or vulnerable witnesses. This may not address the police’s motivations in the interview, but it will help there to be consistency in the different interviewing abilities.
The next stage in the PEACE technique is engage and explain: to develop rapport and explain interview processes and procedures. Having a relaxed interviewee will help the police officer to be more motivated as Dion shows that we like people who are like us.
After the interviewee has given an account, the PEACE technique has the 4th stage which is closure. This is when the interviewer ensures that the interview ends well so that the witness is comfortable to speak again in the future. This is helpful to motivate the police officers so that they feel useful and gives them a sense of authority over the interviewee. Hall and Player have shown that motivating factors are important in people who collect evidence.
The last stage of the PEACE technique is to evaluate what was said and how the interviewer performed during the interview. Having the chance to be self-reflective will help the interviewers to perform as well as they can and will give them greater motivation to do so. Chaney shows that positive reinforcement helps to gain positive results.
The first stage in the PEACE technique is planning and preparation, such as planning the list of points that need to be proved for an offence to have been committed, how to overcome barriers such as language barriers, or vulnerable witnesses. This may not address the police’s motivations in the interview, but it will help there to be consistency in the different interviewing abilities.
The next stage in the PEACE technique is engage and explain: to develop rapport and explain interview processes and procedures. Having a relaxed interviewee will help the police officer to be more motivated as Dion shows that we like people who are like us.
After the interviewee has given an account, the PEACE technique has the 4th stage which is closure. This is when the interviewer ensures that the interview ends well so that the witness is comfortable to speak again in the future. This is helpful to motivate the police officers so that they feel useful and gives them a sense of authority over the interviewee. Hall and Player have shown that motivating factors are important in people who collect evidence.
The last stage of the PEACE technique is to evaluate what was said and how the interviewer performed during the interview. Having the chance to be self-reflective will help the interviewers to perform as well as they can and will give them greater motivation to do so. Chaney shows that positive reinforcement helps to gain positive results.
