title: Examining the positive effects of rapport building: when and why does rapport building benefit adult eyewitness memory?
abstract: Most investigative interviewing protocols recommend building rapport with cooperative adult witnesses to increase the accuracy of their reports. Although a few recent studies support the benefits of rapport building on adult witness recall, no study has examined whether the timing of rapport in relation to post-event misinformation affects recall accuracy, and whether these effects are related to witness anxiety levels throughout the interview. The present study provided two hundred and thirty-three undergraduates with a videotaped mock crime followed by building high or low rapport either before or after they received post-event misinformation. All witnesses were then interviewed about the mock crime. Results indicated that high rapport before misinformation increased the amount of accurate information reported in a subsequent witness interview compared to low rapport. However, these recall benefits were not due to a reduction in anxiety. Theoretical implications and practical recommendations for police interviewing practices are discussed.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychology , Florida International University , Miami , FL , USA.
authors.forename: Jenna Mitchell
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Kieckhaefer
authors.forename: Jonathan Patrick
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Vallano
authors.forename: Nadja
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Schreiber Compo
mesh_terms: D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology; D003142:Communication; D003415:Crime / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D061212:Memory, Episodic; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D016495:Police; D014741:Video Recording; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Anxiety; Investigative interviewing; Misinformation; Rapport building; Witness