Document Type
Dissertation
Degree
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Major/Program
Psychology
First Advisor's Name
Ronald P. Fisher
First Advisor's Committee Title
committee chair
Second Advisor's Name
Steven Charman
Second Advisor's Committee Title
committee member
Third Advisor's Name
Jacqueline Evans
Third Advisor's Committee Title
committee member
Fourth Advisor's Name
Rob T. Guerette
Fourth Advisor's Committee Title
committee member
Keywords
cognitive interview, investigative utility, perpetrator description, cognition, memory
Date of Defense
10-18-2017
Abstract
The Cognitive Interview (CI) has been shown in over one hundred studies to enhance eyewitness recall. However, no study has explored whether the CI improves police job performance. The current study was the first to test the practical value of the CI in a criminal investigation, testing participants’ performance on key police tasks using either a perpetrator description elicited from a CI or from a standard police interview (SI).
In an earlier study, student witnesses were exposed to a simulated robbery and were then interviewed using either a CI or an SI to elicit a description of the robber (comprised of individual descriptors). In Experiment 1, a sample of student participants (N=320) completed two investigative tasks using the descriptors: (a) identifying the perpetrator from a group of ten potential suspect photographs; and (b) allocating hours among the top three potential suspects dictated by who should be the focus of the police’s time (i.e., investigative resources). Participants also subjectively assessed each descriptor’s value in terms of completing the tasks. Presentation methods to enhance the utility of the CI were also tested. Relative to the SI, the CI resulted in a near-30% increase in accurately identifying the perpetrator. Also, significantly more hours were allocated toward investigating the perpetrator using the CI as compared with the SI. Participants did not, however, subjectively value CI descriptors more than SI descriptors; and, the CI’s utility was not enhanced by the presentation methods tested.
Experiment 2 sought to reproduce and generalize the CI’s effect on investigative utility by using police officers (N=71) and student participants (N=67). As in Experiment 1, the CI significantly improved investigative performance in accurately identifying the perpetrator, and in allocating resources toward investigating the perpetrator. Police and students did not significantly differ in their performance of investigative tasks or in their utility ratings of the CI descriptors.
The current study was the first to find that the CI can be properly used by police in a criminal investigation. Investigating the actual perpetrator as opposed to an innocent suspect is likely to have a domino effect on subsequent phases of an investigation.
Identifier
FIDC004009
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Satin, Geri, "Eliciting a Perpetrator Description Using the Cognitive Interview: Influences on Investigative Utility" (2017). FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 3557.
https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/3557
Included in
Cognition and Perception Commons, Cognitive Psychology Commons, Other Psychology Commons
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