Psychological Aspects of Interviewing Flashcards

Which psychological attachment style is most likely to cause an adult subject to become hypervigilant and distrustful of the interviewer's intentions, even when rapport-building is being attempted?

Answer: Fearful-avoidant attachment

Fearful-avoidant individuals desire connection but simultaneously fear it, resulting in approach-avoidance conflict and distrust of authority figures including interviewers.

In assessing statement credibility, 'spontaneous corrections' by a subject (unprompted self-corrections of minor details) are considered:

Answer: Indicators of genuine recall because liars rarely correct themselves

Spontaneous corrections are credibility-enhancing indicators because truthful individuals retrieve imperfect memories and naturally amend details, whereas prepared deceptors tend to maintain their scripted version.

A subject describes a traumatic event using primarily sensory details (smells, textures, sounds) rather than narrative logic. This is most consistent with:

Answer: Traumatic memory encoding, which is often sensory and fragmentary

Traumatic memories are frequently encoded as sensory fragments rather than coherent narratives due to the disruption of hippocampal processing under extreme stress.

The concept of 'interviewer bias confirmation' most directly risks producing:

Answer: A contaminated account shaped by the interviewer's pre-existing theory

Confirmation bias leads interviewers to selectively attend to, ask about, and reinforce information that supports their initial hypothesis while overlooking contradictory evidence.

Learned helplessness in an abuse victim may cause them to:

Answer: Fail to resist or leave their situation and minimize the abuse when interviewed

Learned helplessness, developed through repeated uncontrollable negative experiences, causes victims to stop trying to escape or seek help and to minimize or normalize abusive treatment.

Which technique is MOST aligned with trauma-informed forensic interviewing principles when a subject becomes visibly distressed during disclosure?

Answer: Offering the subject control (e.g., a break) while maintaining a supportive, non-judgmental presence

Trauma-informed practice prioritizes the subject's sense of safety and control; offering a break and maintaining warmth reduces re-traumatization and often facilitates greater eventual disclosure.

A subject asked to describe their actions on a specific day provides a narrative that flows unusually smoothly from start to finish with no dead-ends, self-interruptions, or retrieved fragments. From a veracity assessment standpoint, this is:

Answer: A potential deception indicator, as genuine memories are rarely perfectly linear

Genuine autobiographical memory retrieval is non-linear and includes pauses, self-corrections, and tangential details; a flawless linear narrative may suggest rehearsal.