CFI Psychological Aspects of Interviewing 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: When a victim of repeated trauma displays flat affect during an interview about abuse, the forensic interviewer should primarily consider:
- The subject is fabricating the account
- Dissociation or emotional numbing as a known trauma response (Correct answer)
- The subject is being deceptive about the severity of events
- The interview environment is too informal
Correct answer: Dissociation or emotional numbing as a known trauma response
Flat affect is a recognized symptom of dissociation and emotional numbing, both common responses to chronic or severe trauma, not indicators of fabrication.
Question 2: The 'funnel approach' in forensic interviewing refers to:
- Narrowing questions from broad open-ended to specific as needed (Correct answer)
- Increasing pressure progressively until a confession is obtained
- Starting with specific questions and broadening to general topics
- Using visual aids to funnel a witness's attention to key evidence
Correct answer: Narrowing questions from broad open-ended to specific as needed
The funnel approach begins with open-ended, free-recall prompts and gradually moves to more focused questions only as necessary to clarify details.
Question 3: Which psychological principle explains why interviewees are more likely to disclose sensitive information after first agreeing to small, less-threatening requests?
- Cognitive dissonance
- Foot-in-the-door technique (Correct answer)
- Reciprocity norm
- Social proof
Correct answer: Foot-in-the-door technique
The foot-in-the-door technique leverages commitment and consistency; small initial agreements lower resistance to subsequent larger disclosures.
Question 4: An interviewer who unconsciously nods and smiles when a subject's account aligns with the case theory is demonstrating:
- Effective rapport building
- Active listening
- Interviewer contamination through reinforcement (Correct answer)
- The Hawthorne effect
Correct answer: Interviewer contamination through reinforcement
Nonverbal reinforcement by the interviewer can shape the subject's narrative toward the interviewer's expectations, contaminating the account.
Question 5: Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can affect a witness's testimony reliability primarily by:
- Enhancing sensory memories through hyperarousal
- Causing intrusive but highly accurate flashback recollections
- Fragmenting memory storage and creating gaps or distortions in recall (Correct answer)
- Increasing the witness's suggestibility to only positive cues
Correct answer: Fragmenting memory storage and creating gaps or distortions in recall
PTSD disrupts normal memory consolidation, leading to fragmented, disjointed recall and potential gaps or distortions rather than complete accurate narratives.
Question 6: In motivational interviewing adapted for forensic contexts, 'rolling with resistance' means:
- Matching the subject's resistance with equal firmness
- Avoiding confrontation by reflecting resistance back and exploring ambivalence (Correct answer)
- Documenting all resistant statements for later use
- Redirecting to topics the subject freely discusses
Correct answer: Avoiding confrontation by reflecting resistance back and exploring ambivalence
Rolling with resistance avoids direct confrontation, instead using reflective listening to acknowledge reluctance and invite the subject to explore their own ambivalence.
Question 7: A subject who provides an alibi that is rehearsed, overly structured, and contains unusual levels of precise detail is exhibiting a pattern associated with:
- Truthful recall of a highly memorable event
- Possible deception through over-preparation (Correct answer)
- Hyperthymesia or superior autobiographical memory
- The telescoping effect in memory
Correct answer: Possible deception through over-preparation
Deceptive subjects sometimes over-prepare alibis, resulting in unnaturally precise, scripted accounts that lack the spontaneous inconsistencies typical of genuine memory.
CFI Psychological Aspects of Interviewing 3
When a victim of repeated trauma displays flat affect during an interview about abuse, the forensic interviewer should primarily consider: