Category Archives: Interviewing Suspects

Guðjónsson and Mackeith (1990)

Forensic Psychology, Interviewing Suspects, Making a Case, OCR A2 Psychology, , , ,

Guðjónsson and Mackeith (1990) – ‘A Proven Case of False Confession: Psychological Aspects of the Coerced-compliant type’, Medicine Science and the Law 30, 329-35

Background

This is the third study we look at from the ‘Interviewing Suspects’ section of ‘Making a case’. As part of your OCR A2 Psychology Exam. It is further categorised into ‘False Confession’

Guðjónsson and Mackeith (1990) is a case study about a 17 year old boy who confessed to a crime and was subsequently imprisoned for one year. Later it was found out that his confession was false and he was not guilty of committing the crime. Guðjónsson and Mackeith wondered how such false confessions can arise.

Guðjónsson (1992) suggests there are three types of false confessions:

Voluntary – This is when a person freely confesses to a crime.

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Fisher et al., (1989) – The Cognitive Interview

Forensic Psychology, Interviewing Suspects, Making a Case, OCR A2 Psychology, , , ,

Fisher et al., (1986) – ‘Field test of the cognitive interview: enhancing the recollection of the actual vicitims and witnesses of crime’, Journal of Applied Psychology 74 (5), 722-7.

 

This study is also referred to as:

  • Fisher et al., (1989)
  • Fisher and Geiselman (1989)
  • Geiselman et al., (1989)

Background

This is the third study we look at from the ‘Interviewing Witnesses’ section of ‘Making a case’. As part of your OCR A2 Psychology Exam. It is further categorised into ‘The Cognitive Interview.’

Fisher et al., (1989) focuses on police interviews of witnesses.

What is an interview?

An interview is simply trying to elicit information from a person or witness, while keeping the information valid. This is easier said than done. You may remember two studies from AS: Loftus et al., (1974) and Samuel and Bryant (1984), which demonstrate this.  Firstly, Loftus showed the impact that leading questions could have upon participant recall and she concluded that an actual change in memory had occurred. Memory is easily malleable, changing how a question is asked can change the memory itself. Secondly, Samuel and Bryant showed the impact of repeating the same question. Repeating the same question to children will cause them to completely change their answer, even if their answers were perfectly correct.

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Mann et al., (2004)

Forensic Psychology, Interviewing Suspects, Making a Case, OCR A2 Psychology, , , ,

Mann et al., (2004) – ‘Detecting True Lies: Police Officers’ Ability to Detect Suspects’ Lies’

 

 

Background

This is the second study we look at from the ‘Interviewing Suspects’ section of ‘Making a case’. As part of your OCR A2 Psychology Exam. It is further categorised into ‘Detecting Lies.’

Can you tell when someone is lying?

If you answered yes, what cues to do you use to detect lies? Eye movements? Gestures?

Could you detect lies at a rate better that chance (50%)?  This would mean that you would have to be able to accurately ascertain the truthfulness of at least 6 out 10 statements.

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Inbau et al., (1986)

Forensic Psychology, Interviewing Suspects, Making a Case, OCR A2 Psychology, , ,

Inbau et al., (1986) – ‘Criminal Interrogation and Confessions, 3rd edn, Balitmore, MD: Williams and Wilkins’

 

This is also referred to as Inbau and Reid (1986)

Please note that this is not a study, it is an interrogation technique.

 

Background

This is the first piece of research we look at from the ‘Interviewing Suspects’ section of ‘Making a case’. As part of your OCR A2 Psychology Exam. It is further categorised into ‘Interrogation ’

First and foremost, you need to understand what interrogation is. Interrogation, simply put is a psychologically and in some cases physically aggressive way of interviewing suspects of crimes.

Interrogation techniques are illegal to use in the United Kingdom. In the United States however, such techniques are widespread.

The technique we will be looking at is called the Reid technique.

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