Forensic Psych

Midterm 2

What are the 3 general stages of the Reid Model

1. Gather evidence

2. Behavioural analysis interview (non-accusatory to assess deception/guilt)

3. 9 Step accusatorial interrogation to obtain confession

What model uses some empathy but is more confrontational, strongly opposed, uses persuasive techniques, and the only goal is to obtain a confession?

The Reid Model

What are the 9 steps of Reid?

1. Confrontation

2. Theme development

3. Stopping denials

4. Overcome objections

5. get suspects attention

6. suspect loses resolve

7. alternatives (soften reasons/ lower responsibility in the crime)

8. suspect into conversation

9. confession

What are the 2 categories that the Reid model can be broken into?

Minimization and maximization techniques

Minimization techniques:

False sense of security (justifying the crime)

Maximization techniques:

intimidation, scaring, anxiety causing (making up evidence)

In a study by Snook, 80 interviews of different male criminals were looked at to see what kind of questions are being asked. They found the longest interviews consisted of what kind of questions?

Open ended questions

In the Snook study, open ended questions were used in ____ of interviews?

<1%

in the snook study, only ___ of interviews requested a free narrative

14%

In the snook study, the interviewer talked ___ of words in the interview even though it should be 80% interviewee to 20% interviewer

56%

What are the vulnerabilities of the Reid Technique?

• lack of research

• faulty assumption that investigators can detect deception

• subject to investigator bias

• contributes to false confessions ( #1 CONCERN)

__ % DNA exonerated cases were due to incriminating statements or false confessions

25%

WHat are the 3 types of false confessions?

1. Voluntary false confessions: uncoerced

2. Coerced-compliant: coerced into confessing to escape

3. Coerced-internalized: believes they’re wrongly guilty

The Lindbergh case 1932 is an example of what time of false confession

Voluntary

The Central Park Five 1989 case is an example of what type of false confession?

Coerced-compliant

Paul Ingram case 1989 is an example of what type of false confession?

Coerced-internalized

T/F: Innocent people cannot be induced to confess through non-coercive tactics

False

T/F: Criminal justice personnel can distinguish between true and false confessions based on intuition

False

T/F investigators can tell if people are lying

False

T/F if you don’t know your rights they won’t be able to protect you

true

What are police cautions?

known as Miranda Warnings in the US, to be used for evidence/information in court they must be freely given and not-coerced

What are some of the factors that can affect how useful police cautions are?

• cognitive functioning

• developmental level

• mental illness

• language/cultural barriers

What is the PEACE model?

a non-manipulative, non-coercive, non-accusatory, non-confrontational, and open ended question style of interview model from the UK.

what does PEACE stand for?

P - prep & planning

E- engage & explain

A- account

C- closure

E- evaluation

Why is the PEACE model considered better?

it is simply gathering information (non-coercive), it does not reduce likelihood of getting a confession, and it uses cognitive interview which is an affective evidence-based way of gathering accurate information

T/F : According to the Walsh & Bull research of 142 fraud cases, using PEACE interview qualities had no negative effect in securing accounts, including confessions?

True

What is a lie?

deliberately reported information known to be untrue or deliberately omitted information

__ times we lie in a 10 min conversation with someone we don’t know

2.18

people will lie in __% of emails, __% in face-face conversations, and __% of phone calls

14%, 27%, 37%

what are the 3 types of liars?

1. outright liar

2. minimizing/exaggerating

3. omission or misleading

What are the 3 main reasons for someone to lie?

1. self-oriented reasons: benefits self in some way, makes self look better

2. other oriented: to protect someone else, make someone else feel better

3. lying to get out of a crime

T/F: When assessing credibility, common sense works

False

What is the King solomon method for credibility assessment?

two women fighting over a child, both claiming to be the childs mother, the child should be ripped in half and equally distributed, the real mother would want her child to survive so she would give up the child to the other woman instead of cutting in half

What is the Rice test for credibility?

from Ancient China, put rice or bread in a persons mouth, if the rice stays dry then the person is lying, if the rice is wet then the person is telling the truth

What is the Hot iron test?

an Ancient Arabian test, a person licks a hot iron and is they are lying their tongue will burn, if they’re telling the truth it won’t burn

What is Trial by Ordeal?

used in witch trials, tie the accused up and throw them into water, if the person sinks they are innocent and if they float they are guilty and get executed. Or tie person up and set them on fire, if the person is innocent the flames won’t burn them.

T/F: Law enforcement people are no different in accuracy then general public when it comes to deception detection

True

What few groups show an advantage at detecting deception?

• moms and their own children

• criminal offenders (lie bias)

• secret service agents

• psychologists

What are the 3 types of factors affecting lie detection accuracy?

1. Detector factors (i.e. truth/lie bias, misplaced confidence, false beliefs, familiarity)

2. Sender factors (stakes/consequences, motivated liar, personality)

3. Contextual factors ( cognitive load, time to plan, gender)

__% guilty accurate detection rate for reduced blinking

75%

__% innocent accurate detection rate for reduced blinking

77%

T/F: fewer hand gestures when talking means the person is more likely telling the truth

False, fewer hand gestures is linked to lying

What are micro expressions?

Paul Ekman created a system to code for micro facial expressions that can be found when faking emotions, they’re little details that aren’t the same as real emotion

Dr. Maureen O’Sullivan came up with 3 categories for micro expressions, what are they?

• Simulated: simulate an emotion they are not feeling at all

• Masked: covering up one emotion with another on your face

• Neutralized: Inhibiting emotion and showing a blank face

What are some actual verbal speech cues to detect deceit?

• voice pitch

• speech fillers (uhhhh, ummmm)

• Speech errors

• speech pauses

• talk time

• less immediacy

What are some content cues that are indicative of honesty?

• make spontaneous corrections

• admit to lack of memory / forgetting

What are some content cues that are indicative of deception?

• little detail (lack of sensory detail)

• repetition

• less compelling accounts

• more negative statements and complaints

• over generalized language

What are the 2 approaches for content-based verbal cue analysis?

1. CBCA- Criterion-based content analysis

2. Scientific Content Analysis (SCAN)

The CBCA which was originally used in Europe with child witness’s who were part of sexual violence crimes, has a __% accuracy rate and __% error rate

70%, 30%

T/F: Higher self awareness and self consciousness are traits that can lead to higher accuracy in detecting deceit?

True

What is O’Sullivan’s Wizards?

A lab study to see who’s more accurate at detecting lies, it’s said that people above 80% accuracy are called wizards. These people are said to have more emotional/social intelligence and more flexible in application of cues

What is the Polygraph?

The polygraph is a machine used to measure respiration rate, heart rate, and sweat. Based on the assumption that there will be physiological changes when lying

What are the 2 main types of polygraph?

1. Comparison Question Test (CQT)

2. Concealed Information Test (CIT) also formally known as General Knowledge Test

Which polygraph test asks 3 different types of yes or no questions (irrelevant, relevant, and comparison)?

CQT - Comparison question test

CQT consists of 4 phases, what are the phases?

1. Pre-test interview

2. polygraph exam

3. scoring

4. post-test interview

T/F: The CIT test is looking for information only the criminal would know by asking multiple choice questions with only one correct answer and is barely used in Canada or US

True

In lab studies, the CQT approach had a false positive rate of __% and __% of cases were accurate

12-16%, 74-82%

In the field, the CQT approach had guilty suspects correctly identified __%, and __% falsely identified as guilty

84-92%, 9-24%

Is the CQT Polygraph approach admissible in court?

No, since it is not completely accurate

In lab studies, the CIT approach had __% correctly identified innocent participants, and __% correctly identified guilty participants.

95%, 85%

The CIT has room for error as it has no standardized scoring method, research shows that the original examiner in the room is 90% accurate whereas an examiner reading the output is only __% accurate

55%

What are the 2 types of memory retrieval?

1. recall memory - unprompted

2. recognition memory - prompted

A study by John Yuille of 13 witness’s for murder/attempted murder found that months later their memories?

remained accurate, detailed, and resistant to misinformation

Gary Wells found that there are 2 types of variables influencing eyewitness memory:

1. System variables: can be manipulated/influenced to effect accuracy

2. Estimator variables: present at crime, cannot be controlled

What are the 2 forms of recalling a crime?

1. Open-ended / Free narrative - better accuracy

2. Direct question - lead to more errors given room for bias

the Post-event misinformation effect used what kind of test to show that memory can be distorted and altered

Stop sign vs. Yield sign test

Elizabeth Loftus’ research on hypnosis and if leading questions can create false memories found that __% partially endorced false memory, and __% completely endorced a fabricated memory

54%, 24%

Which interviewing method uses rapport building, free narrative, probing of reported details, and probing of inconsistent and unreported details and is the go-to interview protocol today with children

Step-Wise

Cognitive interview approach has a __% increase in accuracy compared to standard interviews, without more room for error.

30%

T/F: the best reported detail from memory recall research was hair colour

True

Simultaneous lineups have higher false alarm rates with __% False alarm rate

43%

Sequential lineups prevent potential bias and have __% false alarm rate

17%

A show-up has a __% correct rejection rate vs the __% correct rejection rate of the simultaneous lineup

85%, 57%

What types of bias can increase false identification in lineups

• foil bias

• clothing bias

• Instruction bias

• Image bias

T/F: longer compared to shorter voice samples lead to greater accuracy

True

T/F: there’s a small but positive correlation between a witness’s confidence and identification accuracy

True

T/F: Confidence can be manipulated with post-identification feedback

True

T/F: older adults produce lower correct rejection rates compared to younger adults, however they are similar in correct rejection rates

True

What is the Cross-race effect

witness’s are better at remembering faces from their own race compared to faces from other races

people are __x more likely to correctly identify someone of a different race

1.4x

there is a __x decreasing accuracy when it’s cross-race

1.56x

T/F: traumatic memories are similar to normal memories and are highly consistent over time and may be more resistant to deterioration

true

research found that complete memories for events that never happened can be “implanted” in __% of participants, and __% will adopt the possibility it happened

20-26%, 30%

What is weapon focus?

Witness’s attention being focused on the weapon rather than the culprit

what are 3 errors jurors make when it comes to eyewitness testimony in court?

1. Overestimate accuracy of witness

2. don’t appreciate the influence estimator variables and system factors can have

3. falsely believe they can tell lies from truth sand fake memories from true memories

13 eyewitness issues that experts agree are true:

1. wording of questions

2. importance of appropriate lineup instructions

3. post-event information

4. witness confidence

5. attitudes/expectations can influence memory

6. less time to observe = less accuracy

7. unconscious transference

8. show-ups

9. forgetting curves

10. cross-race effects

11. line-up fairness

12. time estimation

13. stress

what is Unconscious transference

found in biased lineups, when police suggest who they suspect and thereby who the witness should identify

Thomas Sophonow was accused of murdering a worker at a donut shop in 1981, how many trials did he have?

he had 3 trials: 1. declared mistrial, 2. he was convicted, 3. appealed then convicted

Sophonow’s conviction was overturned after how many years in Jail?

4 years

T/F: Sophonow was exonerated by Winnipeg police in 2000 after re-investigation

True

in ___ there was an Inquiry about Sophonow’s case in an attempt to come up with guidelines to minimize errors

2001

__% of social service calls (in Canada) for child abuse end up being more than 1 types of abuse and usually involve a family member

19%

__ in 10 child physical and sexual assault cases are committed by a family member

3

What are the factors influencing children’s recall?

• suggestibility

• Question Style

• Social Compliance

• Cognitive Processes

Older kids provide ___ details than younger children

more

kids are ___ to accept and report inaccurate positive details than inaccurate negative details

more susceptible

children and adults have ___ identification rates when suspect is present in lineup

Similar

Children have ___ correct rejection rates than adults when suspect is absent from lineups

lower

What are the 2 steps used to reduce false responding with children in Elimination lineups?

1. child asked to pick the picture of the person who looks most like the culprit (relative judgement)

2. then asked to compare picture to their memory and decide if it matches (absolute judgement)

The Child Witness Project Research in Canada found that kids were more likely to tell the truth if they were asked ___ instead of abstract questions

to promise to tell the truth