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The Effects of Emotions on the Assessment of Child Sexual Abuse Interviews
Abstract
The aim of the present study was to investigate the role of emotions in the ability to assess a child sexual abuse (CSA) interview and recollection of details from it. The participants were 105 (80 women, Mage = 23.78, SDage = 7.06) undergraduate and graduate students. Participants watched pre-recorded interviews with child avatars that were interviewed suggestively (vs. not) and that revealed details of CSA (vs. not). Both self-reported and facial expressions were assessed. In addition, participants answered questions about the quality of the interview and details recollection. The results indicated increases in sadness and disgust in reaction to CSA interviews and relief in reaction to no-CSA interviews. Surprisingly, the objectively more suggestive interviews were perceived as less suggestive and more appropriate. CSA scenario interviews were perceived as less suggestive than the no-CSA scenario. Angry and sad participants made fewer and relieved participants more mistakes when recalling details revealed by the child avatars during the interviews. The full article can be read here: https://rdcu.be/c3YNQ
... Though in the expected direction, the difference was not significant. A subsequent study (Segal et al., 2023) found a similar pattern of emotions in response to participants watching a dynamic interview with participants responding with more sadness and disgust to CSA being confirmed and with more relief when CSA was disconfirmed. ...
... Emotions in these two studies (Segal et al., 2023;Segal et al., 2022) were reactions to hearing a child avatar describe either abuse or non-abuse details. However, they may still be important for formulating hypotheses about how emotions could affect question formulation and any confirmation bias evident in it. ...
When interviewing children in suspected child sexual abuse (CSA) cases, a common mistake is for interviewers to only ask questions that aim at confirming their initial assumption. Here, we sought to investigate whether experienced emotional states and psychophysiological parameters measured when following a (simulated) CSA interview would be associated with confirmation bias in subsequent question formulation. Psychology students ( N = 60, M age = 22.75) followed a (simulated) CSA interview while their facially expressed emotions (anger, sadness, disgust, surprize and relief), galvanic skin response, heart rate (HR), and HR variability (HRV) were registered. The interview was then interrupted, and the participants were asked to formulate additional questions they would ask of the interviewee. As predicted, we found that participants who got more (vs. less) disgusted by the interview asked more questions biased towards confirming CSA. Against our expectations, participants who got more (vs. less) surprized also asked more questions biased towards confirming CSA. We also found, as predicted, that lower HRV was associated with more abuse confirming questions. Results suggest that emotions and psychophysiological states participants experience when observing a CSA interview are associated with confirmation bias in how questions are formulated.
The participants were 105 (80 women, Mage = 23.78, SDage = 7.06) undergraduate and graduate students. Participants watched pre-recorded interviews with child avatars that were interviewed suggestively (vs. not), and that revealed details of CSA (vs. not). Both self-reported and facial expressions were assessed. In addition, participants answered questions about the quality of the interview and relevant detail recollection..
Introduction
In forensic settings interviewers are advised to ask as many open-ended questions as possible. However, even experts may have difficulty following this advice potentially negatively impacting an investigation. Here, we sought to investigate how emotions and psychophysiological parameters are associated with question formulation in real time in an ongoing (simulated) child sexual abuse (CSA) interview.
Method
In a experimental study, psychology students (N = 60, Mage = 22.75) conducted two interviews with child avatars, while their emotions (anger, sadness, disgust, surprise and relief), GSR and heart rate (HR) were registered.
Results
First, we found that general emotionality related to CSA and perceived realness of the avatars was associated with stronger overall emotional reactions. Second, we found that closed (vs. open) questions were preceded by more facially observable anger, but not disgust, sadness, surprise or relief. Third, closed (vs. open) questions were preceded by higher GSR resistance and lower heart rate.
Discussion
Results suggest for the first time that emotions and psychophysiological states can drive confirmation bias in question formulation in real time in CSA.
Free online copy of the article available at: https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/EBQSJC2WDBIMM7EU8IKI/full?target=10.1080/1068316X.2022.2082422
Simulated avatar interview training has been proven to be effective in improving child sexual abuse interview quality. However, the topic of perceived realism of the avatars and whether they cause emotional reactions has not been previously investigated. Such reactions could affect both learning from the interview simulations as well as how actual interviews are conducted. We wanted to understand whether participants perceive allegedly sexually abused child avatars as realistic and how they emotionally respond to avatars revealing they were actually abused vs. not-abused. Psychology students and recent graduates (N = 30, Mage = 27.9 years) watched eight avatars (four boys, four girls, four with a CSA and four with a no-CSA scenario) providing a series of details about what had happened. Before and after observing each avatar, the participants’ emotional reactions and perceived realness of the avatars were measured. Also, during each observation, the participant’s facial expressions were recorded. The participants self-reported more negative (anger, sadness, disgust) and more positive (relief) emotions to confirmed CSA and disconfirmed CSA scenarios, respectively, while results for facially expressed emotions were less clear. Higher general emotionality related to CSA and higher perceived realness of the avatars made the differences generally stronger.
Purpose
Research has shown that confirmation bias plays a role in legal and forensic decision‐making processes and, more specifically, child interviews. However, previous studies often examine confirmation bias in child interviews using non‐abuse‐related events. We enrich the literature by examining interviewers’ behaviours in simulated child sexual abuse (CSA) cases.
Method
In the present study, we used data from a series of experiments in which participants interviewed child avatars to examine how an assumption of abuse based on preliminary information influenced decision‐making and interviewing style. Interview training data ( N interview = 2084) from eight studies with students, psychologists and police officers ( N = 377) were included in the analyses.
Results
We found that interviewers’ preliminary assumption of sexual abuse having taken place predicted 1) a conclusion of abuse by the interviewers after the interview; 2) higher confidence in their judgement; 3) more frequent use of not recommended question types and 4) a decreased likelihood of reaching a correct conclusion given the same number of available relevant details.
Conclusion
The importance of considering how preliminary assumptions of abuse affect interview behaviour and outcomes and the implications for the training of investigative interviewers were discussed.
Juries in adversarial courts are tasked with several responsibilities. They are asked to: 1) assess the credibility and reliability of the evidence presented; 2) deliberate; 3) and then reach a decision. Jurors are expected to evaluate said evidence in a rational/impartial manner, thus allowing the defendant their right to a fair trial. However, psychological research has shown that jurors are not rational and can reach inaccurate decisions by being biased by certain factors. The aim of the current review was to explore the potential sources from which biases are introduced into the jury. Three main sources of bias were focussed upon: 1) pre-trial bias; 2) cognitive bias; 3) bias from external legal actors (expert witnesses). Legal scholars commonly cite deliberations as a method of attenuating individual juror bias, this claim is evaluated in the review. The review concludes that bias is a multifaceted phenomenon introduced from many different elements, and that several sources of bias may interact with one another during a jury trial to cause the effects of bias to snowball. Four recommendations are made: 1) juror selection should be utilised to create heterogenous juries that challenge problematic biases from individual jurors; 2) increase the quality of expert testimony through training; 3) procedures such as Linear Sequential Unmasking should be adopted by expert witnesses to filter out some sources of bias; 4) legal professionals and jurors should be educated about the effects that biases may have on decision making; 5) more research into bias in jurors is needed.
As the suspect interview is one of the key elements of a police investigation, it has received a great deal of merited attention from the scientific community. However, suspect interviews in child sexual abuse (CSA) investigations is an understudied research area. In the present mixed-methods study, we examine Swedish (n = 126) and Norwegian (n = 52) police interviewers' self-reported goals, tactics, and emotional experiences when conducting interviews with suspected CSA offenders. The quantitative analyses found associations between the interviewers' self-reported goals, tactics, and emotions during these types of suspect interviews. Interviewers who reported experiencing more negative emotions were more likely to employ confrontational tactics. Specifically, anger was positively associated with the goal of obtaining a confession and with aggressive tactics like raising one's voice and emphasizing the seriousness of the crime. Frustration and disgust displayed similar patterns. Somewhat contrasting these quantitative results, the thematic analysis identified a strong consensus that emotions should not and do not affect the police interviewers' work. Furthermore, the police interviewers described a range of strategies for managing emotions during the interview and for processing their emotional reactions afterwards. The present findings highlight the relevance of emotional processes in CSA suspect interviews and provide an initial exploration of the potentially complex relationship between the goals, tactics, and emotional experiences of police interviewers who question CSA suspects.
Summary
Unreliable testimony from an underage child might become grounds for a judge to make a wrong decision towards the accused. Globally, interviewers fail to support best interview practice recommendations (Cederborg, 2004; Korkman, Santtila, Drzewiecki & Sandnabba, 2008; Sternberg, Lamb, Orbach, Esplin & Mitchell, 2001), thus it is possible
that juvenile’s testimony quality might be questionable. In 2018, with the entry into force of the law on the participation of psychologists in juvenile interviews in Lithuania, the need to study the factors influencing the quality of juvenile testimonies is only increasing. A systematic analysis of the qualitative data literature was conducted to better understand what factors and how influence the quality of juvenile testimony.
Object of the study – factors influencing the quality of juvenile testimony.
The aim of this systematic analysis of qualitative data is to look at the interview process from a child`s perspective and have a systematic understanding what factors and how can impact the quality of child`s statements. Insights from qualitative methodology can be useful for practitioners and scientists, who are working on problems related to child interviewing.
Systematic literature analysis focused on factors that impact the quality of children`s testimony was conducted in 5 steps: 1) choosing the database, 2) choosing appropriate keywords, 3) formulating appropriate inclusion and exclusion criterias, 4) creating a map of
factors, 5) synthesising of qualitative data. Scientific articles for this study were extracted from these databases: PsychARTICLES, ERIC, Academic Search Complete and Web of Science. Latest studies from the field of legal and criminal psychology are published in these bibliographic databases. In order to identify the most suitable articles for this study a set of keywords was used in Bull`s logic ((child* OR pupil* OR student* OR adolescent* OR youth*) AND (ability* OR compet*) AND (testif* OR witness*)). This algorithm was used
in each database search engine. Also, where it was possible, additional filter criteria’s were added: full text English articles ranging from 1990.01.01 till 2017.12.31.
According to the chosen search criteria’s electronical databases provided 1294 publications. All the search results were added to ZOTERO (an open-source tool for collecting and organizing research publications). The program automatically deleted 229 duplicates,
leaving 1065 publications for further analysis. 814 publications were excluded at the title screening stage because the titles didn`t mention nothing related to the child competence to testify. Then 214 publications excluded at the abstract reading stage due to either: 1) quantitative or experimental methodology or 2) the focus of the publication was not related to child`s competence to testify or 3) the participants of the study were older than 18 years or 4) the participants of the study were of atypical development or 5) the publication was theoretical or a review. After the abstract screening stage, a total of 37 articles were left for full analysis. At this stage 34 articles were excluded because studies were: 1) of quantitative
methodology or 2) theoretical or a review. Only 3 publications were included into this systematic analysis.
In the stage of the data synthesis (Seers, 2015; Snelgrove and Liossi, 2013) the goal is to unite all important findings into one map of factors and purify meta-topics that relate to juvenile’s competence to testify. During synthesis process all distinguished factors were
extracted and reassembled into one logical map of factors according to the nature of their impact (positive or negative) on the juveniles’ statements.
Results of the analysis show that the quality of juvenile testimony might be influenced by such factors as: 1) the interviewer`s ability to assess the interviewee`s cognitive abilities, 2) and language skills, 3) the interviewer`s communication, 4) the interviewer`s contact with the minor.
The map of factors (Table 3) allows to systematically look at the factors that affect the quality of a juvenile›s testimony. In principle, it can be understood that the quality of the testimony depends on how the child`s interview will be constructed and whether the interviewer
will make crucial mistakes that will adversely affect juvenile›s testimony. Researchers specializing in child interviewing agree that the majority of the interview training programs are ineffective and do not substantially contribute to higher quality and standards
for the child interviewing (Cederborg, Lamb, Sternberg & Lamb, 2000; Korkman et al., 2008; Sternberg et al., 2001). Following this analysis, the idea arises that not only theoretical knowledge that might impact the quality of juvenile›s testimony is important but also the skill of interviewing. The map of factors resembles not only factors that in theory are important to extract good quality statements from a child but also main components of the skill that the interviewer should master.
Qualitative research analyzing the factors that affect the quality of a juvenile`s testimony is extremely limited. Knowledge, understanding and integration of the identified factors influencing the ability of a juvenile to give evidence into a practical skill is the basis
for obtaining reliable and high-quality testimony from a juvenile. Ignoring or misusing the identified factors during the interview of a juvenile may and must cast doubt on the reliability of the obtained evidence.
The purpose of this paper is to systematically examine the research literature on the decision of expert interviewers within the theoretical framework of the Hierarchy of Expert Performance (HEP). After providing an overview of the HEP framework, existing research in the investigative interviewing at each of the eight levels of the HEP framework is reviewed. The results identify areas of strength in reliability between experts’ observations (Level 2) and of weakness in reliability between experts’ conclusions (Level 6). Biases in investigative interview experts’ decision making is also revealed at biasability between expert conclusions (Level 8). Moreover, no published data are available in reliability within experts at the level of observations (Level 1) or conclusions (Level 5), biasability within or between expert observations (Level 3 and 4) and biasability within expert conclusions (Level 7). The findings highlight areas where future research and practical endeavour are much needed for the investigative interview.
This research tests whether a police officer’s decision to apprehend a suspect triggers confirmation bias during an interrogation. The study also tests two strategies to reduce confirmation bias: (1) decoupling decision to apprehend from interrogation and (2) reducing cognitive load for the interrogating police officer. In Experiment 1, Swedish police officers (N = 60) were faced with 12 scenarios in which they either had to decide for themselves whether to apprehend a suspect or were informed about the corresponding decision by another police officer or a prosecutor. Participants then prepared questions for a suspect interrogation and evaluated the trustworthiness of the suspect’s denial or confession. The same method was used in Experiment 2 but with law and psychology students (N = 60) as participants. In Experiment 3, psychology students (N = 60) prepared interrogation questions either by freely producing their own or by choosing questions from a preset list. Overall, apprehended suspects were interrogated in a more guilt presumptive way and rated as less trustworthy than non apprehended suspects. However, the tested debiasing techniques, primarily reducing cognitive load for the interrogating police officer, hold some potential in mitigating this bias.
Forensic evidence plays a critical role in court proceedings and the administration of justice. It is a powerful tool that can help convict the guilty and avoid wrongful conviction of the innocent. Unfortunately, flaws in forensic evidence are increasingly becoming apparent. Assessments of forensic science have too often focused only on the data and the underlying science, as if they exist in isolation, without sufficiently addressing the process by which forensic experts evaluate and interpret the evidence.
A growing body of research has indicated that acute stress can critically impact memory. However, there are a number of inconsistencies in the literature, and important questions remain regarding the conditions under which stress effects emerge as well as basic questions about how stress impacts different phases of memory. In this meta-analysis, we examined 113 independent studies in humans with 6,216 participants that explored effects of stress on encoding, postencoding, retrieval, or postreactivation phases of episodic memory. The results indicated that when stress occurred prior to or during encoding it impaired memory, unless both the delay between the stressor and encoding was very short and the study materials were directly related to the stressor, in which case stress improved encoding. In contrast, postencoding stress improved memory unless the stressor occurred in a different physical context than the study materials. When stress occurred just prior to or during retrieval, memory was impaired, and these effects were larger for emotionally valenced materials than neutral materials. Although stress consistently increased cortisol, the magnitude of the cortisol response was not related to the effects of stress on memory. Nonetheless, the effects of stress on memory were generally reduced in magnitude for women taking hormonal contraceptives. These analyses indicate that stress disrupts some episodic memory processes while enhancing others, and that the effects of stress are modulated by a number of critical factors. These results provide important constraints on current theories of stress and memory, and point to new questions for future research. (PsycINFO Database Record
There is an increasing awareness of psychological effects on working with trauma survivors (e.g., sexual abuse victims). However, little research focused on such issue. Adopting a qualitative approach, this study explored vicarious trauma (VT) among professionals working with child sexual abuse (CSA) cases in Malaysia. A total of 18 professionals (police officers, social workers, counselors, and medical social workers) were interviewed. Results indicated that respondents experienced shock and disbelief, confusion, fear, flashback, hyper vigilance, irritability, and sleep difficulties caused by work. Furthermore, their work also affected relationship with friends, family members, and children. This study disclosed the fact that most of the professionals were not even aware that they could be negatively affected by their work with CSA victims. Also, the study emphasized the importance of information and training about possible risks of working with trauma survivors to reduce the occurrence of VT.
Confirmation bias, as the term is typically used in the psychological literature, connotes the seeking or interpreting of evidence in ways that are partial to existing beliefs, expectations, or a hypothesis in hand. The author reviews evidence of such a bias in a variety of guises and gives examples of its operation in several practical contexts. Possible explanations are considered, and the question of its utility or disutility is discussed.
This research examined the effects of happiness, anger, and sadness on participants' memory for different types of information in a narrative. Happiness and negative emotions were evoked in undergraduates (N= 263) by randomly assigning grades of "A" or "D" on a surprise quiz. Immediately afterwards, subjects participated in what they believed to be an unrelated study during which they heard and recalled a narrative and described their emotional state. Participants in the positive emotion condition recalled more of the narrative as a whole than did participants in the negative emotion condition. Analyses based on self-reported emotions indicated that happiness had a general facilitative effect on recall, whereas anger and sadness were associated with enhanced recall of information concerning goals and outcomes respectively. These findings indicate that specific emotions differ in their effects on memory and that negative emotions may facilitate selective encoding of functional information.
In the paper [1], authors have suggested and analyzed a predictor-corrector Halley method for solving nonlinear equa-tions. In this paper, we modified this method by using the finite difference scheme, which had a quantic convergence. We have compared this modified Halley method with some other iterative methods of ninth order, which shows that this new proposed method is a robust one. Some examples are given to illustrate the efficiency and the performance of this new method.
At an ultimate level of explanation the causes of incest aversion have been linked to the reproductive costs of inbreeding, whereas at a proximate level of explanation experienced environmental cues relating to the successful recognition of kin have been shown to moderate both the likelihood of engaging in incest and the aversion to descriptions of third-party incest. However, little is known concerning how incest aversion is moderated by evolutionarily relevant factors presented in such descriptions. As disgust has been suggested to down-regulate incestuous sexual interest, we investigated to what extent the gender, biological relatedness, co-residence, and family-relationship type of actors described in incest scenarios moderate the elicited disgust of men and women reading those descriptions. Analyzing responses from 434 participants, we found that; women are more disgusted by incest than men; that descriptions of biological incest elicits more disgust than sociolegal incest; that descriptions of incest between family members having co-resided elicited more disgust than incest between family members growing up apart; and that descriptions of incest between a parent and a child elicited more disgust than incest between siblings. Our conclusion is that variations in the degree of disgust elicited by descriptions of third-party incest are consistent with evolutionary hypotheses concerning inbreeding avoidance.
In recent studies of the structure of affect, positive and negative affect have consistently emerged as two dominant and relatively independent dimensions. A number of mood scales have been created to measure these factors; however, many existing measures are inadequate, showing low reliability or poor convergent or discriminant validity. To fill the need for reliable and valid Positive Affect and Negative Affect scales that are also brief and easy to administer, we developed two 10-item mood scales that comprise the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS). The scales are shown to be highly internally consistent, largely uncorrelated, and stable at appropriate levels over a 2-month time period. Normative data and factorial and external evidence of convergent and discriminant validity for the scales are also presented. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)
The present study examined (1) the ways investigative interviewers in forensic settings prepared children for substantive questioning, and (2) whether the techniques used and the amount of time spent in the pre-substantive phase were related to children's informativeness. Accuracy of the children's statements was not assessed. The sample included investigative interviews of a small sample of 75 alleged victims of sexual abuse in Malaysia, aged 5 to 15 years. Explanations of the conversational rules, purpose of the interview, and the children's roles as informants appeared to help the youngest children to be informative. The results also revealed possible limits to the potential benefits of rapport-building and suggest that interviewers should monitor the amount of time they spend preparing children for substantive questioning. Implications for addressing the limitations of the present research and directions for future research are discussed.
Four variations on the Step-Wise Interview (Yuille, Hunter, Joffe, & Zaparniuk, 1993) were evaluated to assess effects on young children's eyewitness statements. Children aged approximately 3.0 to 5.5 years and 5.5 to 8.0 years witnessed performances of a story then were randomly assigned to interview protocols. Probe structures and focus of talk during rapport building were manipulated. Relative to older children, younger children reported less information, were less accurate, and less able to resist suggestion. Younger children were least accurate when asked direct probes and given practice recalling a specific past event. Older children were less affected by interview characteristics. Ambiguity in children's statements arose from children's use of ambiguous pronouns. No protocol was superior with respect to risk of suggestibility. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
This study examined investigators' perceptions of the reliability of incriminating and exonerating evidence of different types. Police trainees in the role of investigators read the background of a homicide case and then received a piece of evidence that either confirmed or disconfirmed their prior suspicion against the suspect. Despite identical objective characteristics of the evidence, participants rated the disconfirming (vs. confirming) evidence as less reliable and generated more arguments to question its reliability. This asymmetrical scepticism was stronger for participants judging witness evidence, compared to DNA and photo evidence, supporting the hypothesis that different types of evidence vary in ‘elasticity’—the extent to which subjective interpretations can be justified. Interestingly, the observed effects were not limited to the specific evidence in the case, but also affected the ratings of the type of evidence in general, suggesting that reliability criteria for witness information are highly malleable and sensitive to contextual influences. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
This paper examined the use of emotional language by police officers that interview child victims as well as suspects during sexual offence investigations. It was hypothesised that officers who interviewed child victims prior to questioning suspects would use more emotional utterances during interviews with the suspect than those who had not interviewed the child victims. In addition, it was also hypothesised that the number of emotional utterances used would vary as a function of the gender of the interviewer and the type of offence (e.g. intra or extrafamilial abuse). Thirty-four interview transcripts of investigative interviews with alleged sex offenders were analysed and, contrary to the hypothesis, the results revealed a significant effect of prior acquaintance with the victim, in that a greater number of negative emotional utterances (e.g. contempt, disgust and anger) were used by interviewers who had not previously interviewed the victim. There were no significant effects with regard to gender of the interviewer or the type of offence (e.g. extra, or intrafamilial abuse) and the study found that, despite recent recommendations, the majority of police officers had not received specialist investigative interviewing specific to sex offenders. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
In two experiments, criminal investigators (N = 50) and undergraduate students (N = 68) read a set of facts from the preliminary investigation of a homicide case. Participants' initial hypothesis regarding the crime was manipulated by providing background information implying that the prime suspect had a jealousy motive or that there might be an alternative perpetrator. Students displayed a framing effect, such that guilt was ascribed to the prime suspect only when a potential motive was presented, whereas investigators did so regardless of hypothesis, thus being less sensitive to alternative interpretations. Investigators' need for cognitive closure (NFC) moderated the effect of the hypothesis on perceptions of the strength of the evidence against the prime suspect; high (v low) NFC investigators were less likely to acknowledge inconsistencies in the material when presented with a potential motive, but were more likely to do so when made aware of the possibility of an alternative perpetrator. Interpretations are somewhat clouded by the fact that dispositional NFC did not seem to affect in a consistent manner participants' motivation toward the experimental task. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Previous studies have found that legal interviews with children often are conducted in a language that exceeds the cognitive level of the interviewed children. In the present study, investigative interviews with 3Á8-year-old children (n043) in cases of suspected child sexual abuse (CSA) were analysed. Interviewers were mental health professionals working with children, and thus it was hypothesized that they would conduct the interviews using language that would be age-appropriate for the young interviewees. However, results showed that the language used included long and complex sentences, multiple questions before the child was allowed to answer, as well as unclear references to persons and situations. These were all associated with fewer details from the child and they also raise concerns about the credibility of the information gained in these interviews. Interviewers had some age sensitivity; all categories occurred more frequently in interviews with older (6Á8 years) than with younger children (3Á5 years), except for the unclear references. The interviewers often introduced the topic of abuse in a leading yet unclear way, and the interviews were characterized by fluctuation between on-and off-topic discussions, adding to the concerns. The issue of how to more properly and age-appropriately conduct CSA interviews needs further attention, both within research and in attempts to translate research findings into clinical practice.
Affect bursts consist of spontaneous and short emotional expressions in which facial, vocal, and gestural components are highly synchronized. Although the vocal characteristics have been examined in several recent studies, the facial modality remains largely unexplored. This study investigated the facial correlates of affect bursts that expressed five different emotions: anger, fear, sadness, joy, and relief. Detailed analysis of 59 facial actions with the Facial Action Coding System revealed a reasonable degree of emotion differentiation for individual action units (AUs). However, less convergence was shown for specific AU combinations for a limited number of prototypes. Moreover, expression of facial actions peaked in a cumulative-sequential fashion with significant differences in their sequential appearance between emotions. When testing for the classification of facial expressions within a dimensional approach, facial actions differed significantly as a function of the valence and arousal level of the five emotions, thereby allowing further distinction between joy and relief. The findings cast doubt on the existence of fixed patterns of facial responses for each emotion, resulting in unique facial prototypes. Rather, the results suggest that each emotion can be portrayed by several different expressions that share multiple facial actions.
Emotional arousal and negative affect enhance recall of central aspects of an event. However, the role of discrete emotions in selective memory processing is understudied. Undergraduates were asked to recall and rate autobiographical memories of eight emotional events. Details of each memory were rated as central or peripheral to the event. Significance of the event, vividness, reliving and other aspects of remembering were also rated for each event. Positive affect enhanced recall of peripheral details. Furthermore, the impairment of peripheral recall was greatest in memories of anger, not of fear. Reliving the experience at retrieval was negatively correlated with recall of peripheral details for some emotions (e.g., anger) but not others (e.g., fear), irrespective of similarities in affect and intensity. Within individuals, recall of peripheral details was correlated with less belief in the memory's accuracy and more likelihood to recall the memory from one's own eyes (i.e., a field perspective).
The authors predicted that the cognitive appraisal tendencies associated with sadness and anger would exert different influences on investigators' crime-related judgments. Supporting evidence was found in an experiment with 61 experienced criminal investigators. First, when judging the reliability of a witness statement, sad participants relied on their perception of both witness and situational variables, whereas angry participants relied only on their perception of witness variables. This corresponds to the emphasis placed on situational and individual control in the appraisals associated with sadness and anger, respectively. Second, when making judgments of the case, sad participants were sensitive to the consistency of a witness statement with the central hypothesis of the investigation, indicating substantive processing, whereas angry participants were unaffected by statement-hypothesis consistency, indicating heuristic processing. The findings suggest that the process of reliability assessment can be better understood by consulting theories of attribution and information processing.
To show how the results of research on children's memory, communicative skills, social knowledge, and social tendencies can be translated into guidelines that improve the quality of forensic interviews of children.
We review studies designed to evaluate children's capacities as witnesses, explain the development of the structured NICHD Investigative Interview Protocol, and discuss studies designed to assess whether use of the Protocol enhances the quality of investigative interviews.
Controlled studies have repeatedly shown that the quality of interviewing reliably and dramatically improves when interviewers employ the NICHD Protocol. No other technique has been proven to be similarly effective.
Use of the structured NICHD Protocol improves the quality of information obtained from alleged victims by investigators, thereby increasing the likelihood that interventions will be appropriate.
Purpose
Little research exists on the influence of emotion in forensic settings. To start filling this gap, we used a hypothetical interrogation scenario to examine the effects of emotional state on judgement, decision making, and information‐processing style across two separate experiments.
Methods
The participants were induced a specific emotion. Then, they read a scenario where a suspect was arrested and rated (1) the suspect's guilt, and (2) the extent to which they would use a number of tactics to interview the suspect. Based on the feelings‐as‐information theory and cognitive‐appraisal theories of emotion, we predicted that relative to angry or happy participants, sad participants would be less inclined to judge the suspect as guilty (judgement), would show a stronger tendency to select benevolent interrogation tactics and a weaker tendency to select hostile interrogation tactics (decision making), and would be more likely to use an analytic (rather than a heuristic) processing style.
Results
In Experiment 1 (conducted with college students), the judgement hypothesis was supported. In Experiment 2 (with mTurkers), the decision‐making hypothesis was supported. A meta‐analysis of the two experiments revealed that participants were more willing to select benevolent than hostile interrogation tactics and that, as predicted, sad participants were more willing than angry or happy participants to select benevolent tactics. However, emotion did not affect the participants’ tendency to select hostile tactics.
Conclusion
We tested emotion theories in an interrogation scenario. The significant results were consistent with the feelings‐as‐information and cognitive‐appraisal theories of emotion and have practical relevance.
Forensic science has existed for many decades without due attention being given to the important role of human cognition in forensic work. Without such attention, forensic examiners were believed to be objective and immune to bias. This past decade we have seen an impressive shift in forensic science, now taking human factors into account. One important element in cognitive forensics is to minimize potential bias in forensic work. To accomplish this we must first understand the different sources of bias and then develop and deploy counter measures whenever possible. In this paper, I go through seven sources of bias, some arising from the mere fact that we are humans, other originating from training, motivations and organizational factors (and other general sources of bias), and others arising from the specific case at hand. Bias is then placed within the wider context of human performance, showing the hierarchy of expert performance (HEP) that distinguishes between observations and conclusions in decision-making, between effects that are due to bias and those that do not arise from bias, and when performance varies among examiners and when it varies within the same examiner. A cognitive informed approach can substantially improve and contribute to forensic science.
Rapport often appears in training and discussions regarding investigative interviewing, yet very little empirical research has examined rapport systematically in law enforcement or intelligence settings. Using a model of rapport developed from therapeutic settings, we address in this paper the components of rapport and their relevance to investigative interviewing. Rapport can play a facilitating role in supporting the goals of an investigative interview, to include developing a working alliance between interviewer and source, exercising social influence, and educing information from a source. A better understanding of how rapport develops in these contexts and its impact on interview outcomes would enhance the effectiveness of investigative interviewing. Research on rapport in the investigative interview would enhance our understanding of the interpersonal dynamics in these situations. We identify several gaps that such research should address, including the relationship between rapport and social influence and the development of rapport in multiparty interactions. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine police officers' perceptions about their role in interviewing children, and to compare these perceptions with those of child eyewitness memory experts.
Design/methodology/approach
A diverse sample of 23 police officers (from three states of Australia) individually participated in in‐depth interviews where they were asked to define what makes a good interviewer in the area of child abuse investigation.
Findings
Irrespective of the background of the officers, the important role of interviewers' personal attributes was emphasised (e.g. having a relaxed, empathetic, warm nature). Such personal attributes were more prominent in the participants' descriptions than knowledge of legislation and children's development, prior job experience, and interviewing techniques.
Research limitations/implications
The paper shows that while child eyewitness memory experts acknowledge the importance of establishing a bond of mutual trust between the interviewer and the child, the importance of utilising an open‐ended questioning style for enhancing rapport, and for eliciting a detailed and accurate account of abuse cannot be overstated. The possible reasons for the police officers' emphasis on personal qualities are discussed.
Originality/value
This paper has revealed that limitations in the competency of police officers in interviewing children is not merely a problem of “doing” (i.e. learning to ask open‐ended questions), but may also reflect ingrained attitudinal and organisational barriers.
Clinicians' expertise in child sexual abuse (CSA) cases was explored by giving a questionnaire covering clinical experience, self-evaluated expertise, beliefs and attitudes about CSA and a trial material concerning CSA to 320 child mental health professionals. In the material the suggestiveness of the interview with the child was varied and one condition did not contain any interview transcript. Participants were sensitive to the presence of leading questions but not to the presence of other suggestive techniques and not to the possibility that suggestive techniques could have been used when no interview transcripts were included. Experience only affected sensitivity to leading questions. Strong attitudes and beliefs lessened the sensitivity to leading questions and made participants more prone to wanting the case to be prosecuted when other suggestive influences than leading questions were present. Practical implications of the results will be discussed.
In recent studies of the structure of affect, positive and negative affect have consistently emerged as two dominant and relatively independent dimensions. A number of mood scales have been created to measure these factors; however, many existing measures are inadequate, showing low reliability or poor convergent or discriminant validity. To fill the need for reliable and valid Positive Affect and Negative Affect scales that are also brief and easy to administer, we developed two 10-item mood scales that comprise the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS). The scales are shown to be highly internally consistent, largely uncorrelated, and stable at appropriate levels over a 2-month time period. Normative data and factorial and external evidence of convergent and discriminant validity for the scales are also presented.
In contrast to formal theories of judgement and decision, which employ a single notion of probability, psychological analyses of responses to uncertainty reveal a wide variety of processes and experiences, which may follow different rules. Elementary forms of expectation and surprise in perception are reviewed. A phenomenological analysis is described, which distinguishes external attributions of uncertainty (disposition) from internal attributions of uncertainty (ignorance). Assessments of uncertainty can be made in different modes, by focusing on frequencies, propensities, the strength of arguments, or direct experiences of confidence. These variants of uncertainty are associated with different expressions in natural language; they are also suggestive of competing philosophical interpretations of probability.RésuméContrastant avec les théories formelles de jugement et de décision qui utilisent une notion unique de probabilité, les analyses psychologiques des réponses à l'incertitude indiquent une grande variété dans les processus et les expériences qui peuvent obéir à différentes règles. On a passé en revue les formes élémentaires d'attente et de surprise en perception. L'analyse phénoménologique présentée distingue les attributions externes (disposition) des attributions internes (ignorance) de l'incertitude. L'estimation de l'incertitude peut refaire selon différents modes selon qu'elle se centre sur les fréquences, les tendances, la force des arguments, une conviction issue d'une expérience directe, etc. Ces variations d'incertitude sont associées avec différentes expressions du langage naturel, elles suggèrent également des interprétations philosophiques concurrentes de la probabilité.
Varieties of confirmation bias
- J Klayman
Klayman J (1995) Varieties of confirmation bias. In J. Busemeyer,
Hastie R, Medin DL (Eds.), Psychol Learn Motiv Vol. 32: pp.
385-418. Academic Press. https:// doi. org/ 10. 4236/ am. 2013.
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