A comfortable witness is a good witness: rapport‐building and susceptibility to misinformation in an investigative mock‐crime interview

Jonathan P. Vallano · Nadja Schreiber Compo

187 citations0/0 files storedApplied Cognitive Psychology

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Deception detection and forensic psychology Policing Practices and Perceptions Memory Processes and Influences

Abstract

Abstract Major investigative interviewing protocols such as the Cognitive Interview recommend that investigators build rapport with cooperative adult witnesses at the beginning of a police interview. Although research substantiates the benefits of rapport‐building on the accuracy of child witness reports, few studies have examined whether similar benefits apply to adult witnesses. The present study investigated whether verbal rapport‐building techniques increase adult witness report accuracy and decrease their susceptibility to post‐event misinformation. One‐hundred eleven college adults viewed a videotaped mock‐crime, received post‐event misinformation (or correct information) about the crime, and were subsequently interviewed by a research assistant who built rapport (or did not build rapport) before recalling the mock‐crime. Results indicated that rapport‐building increased the quality of witness recall by decreasing the percentage of inaccurate and misinformation reported, particularly in response to open‐ended questions. We discuss implications and recommendations for law enforcement. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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References

1994Self-disclosure and liking: A meta-analytic review.1992Memory-Enhancing Techniques for Investigative Interviewing: The Cognitive Interview 1988Coordinated movement and rapport in teacher-student interactions 2008The conceptualization and measurement of therapeutic alliance: An empirical review 1997Effects of introductory style on children's abilities to describe experiences of sexual abuse 1991Children’s Testimony About a Stressful Event: Improving Children’s Reports 2009The role of therapist self-disclosure in psychotherapy: A qualitative review 1996Linguistic and socioemotional influences on the accuracy of children's reports.

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2025Police-induced confessions, 2.0: Risk factors and recommendations.2013Building and maintaining rapport in investigative interviews 2020Exploring the use of rapport in professional information‐gathering contexts by systematically mapping the evidence base 2015Rapport-building with cooperative witnesses and criminal suspects: A theoretical and empirical review.2014The efficacy of rapport-based techniques for minimizing counter-interrogation tactics amongst a field sample of terrorists.

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