2) credibility assessment & decision making

credible account

the result of the interaction between the interviewee and the interviewer

question types in interviews

1. Invitations

2. Cued invitations

3. Directive

4. Option-posing

5. Suggestive

1. invitations

attempt to elicit free-recall responses: “and then what happened”

→ To let them talk further

2. Cued invitations

further explore issues mentioned by the interviewee with open-ended prompts:

“you mentioned he looked familiar: “Tell me more about that”

→ To explore things the interviewee has said

3. Directive

utterances request additional specific information about something the interviewee mentioned earlier: “What colour was the shirt?”

4. Option-posing

utterances focus on details not mentioned and require choice among options offered by the interviewer: “did he touch you?”      

5. Suggestive

utterances assume information not disclosed by the interviewee or suggest an expected response: “he touched you, didn’t he”

→ you are putting things into their mind, especially if it is a minor

the funnel approach

Exhaust all information you can through open-ended prompts

→ From open-ended questions to more focused ones

methods for detecting lies

1. the polygraph test 

2. verbal lie detection 

the polygraph test

• Usually combined with an interrogation technique

• The control question test (CQT): lie detection

• Concealed information test (CIT): memory detection

Eyewitness identification

suspect = arrested, witness → come & identify ‘this person?’

!Ψ : memory of the eyewitness (reliable? 63% eyewitness MISid)

types eyewitness id

• Line up or identification parade

• Photo line – up

• Show up

• Confirmatory photography

• System variables 

Line up or id parade

presenting a group of people including the suspect 

‘can the eyewitness id the suspect?"‘

Photo line-up

same as line up but with pictures

Show up

A witness is shown one person and asked whether they are the perpetrator

Confirmatory photography

presenting one photo/social media image (is it him)

System variables 

Variables related to how the identification is done → associated with retrieval

Foil bias

people who are not suspect but added to the group, they should be chosen because they fit the description

Estimator variables

situational and individual factors related to the crime and the person involved

Other variables

may have some bearing when assessing the eyewitness identification

risk for id errors

• time 

• post-event information 

• source error

improving eyewitness id 

• Double blind procedure

• Instructions 

• Composing the lineup

• Confidence statement

• lineup procedure → documented

cog biases in legal context

• Tunnel vision

• Confirmation bias

• Bias blind spot

• Allegiance effect

• Overconfidence

source of cog bias

1. data

2. reference materials

3. contextual information

4. base rate

5. organisational factors

6. education and training

7. personal factors

8. human & cognitive factors, and the brain

change bllindness

when things slightly change & we’re not able to notice it

the fraud triangle

framework used in auditing to explain the reason behind an individual’s decision to commit fraud.

3 components → increasing risk of fraud

• opportunity

• incentive

• rationalization