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Interviewing Techniques for Darwinian Facial‐Composite Systems
Author(s) -
D. Frowd Charlie,
Nelson Laura,
Skelton Faye,
Noyce Rosie,
Atkins Rebecca,
Heard Priscilla,
Morgan David,
Fields Steve,
Henry Joanne,
McIntyre Alex,
Hancock Peter J. B.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
applied cognitive psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.719
H-Index - 100
eISSN - 1099-0720
pISSN - 0888-4080
DOI - 10.1002/acp.2829
Subject(s) - face (sociological concept) , psychology , component (thermodynamics) , construct (python library) , interview , cognitive interview , cognition , quality (philosophy) , cognitive psychology , cognitive science , social psychology , computer science , epistemology , sociology , psychiatry , social science , philosophy , physics , anthropology , thermodynamics , programming language
Summary Eyewitnesses are often asked to describe the appearance of an offender's face, normally as part of a cognitive interview (CI), and then to construct a facial composite of it by selecting hair, eyes, nose, and so on. Recent research indicates that facial composites of this type are rendered much more identifiable when constructors focus on global character (holistic) judgements of the face after having recalled it in detail. Here, we investigated whether components of this so‐called holistic CI (H‐CI) were applicable to newer ‘evolving’ (Darwinian) methods of face construction. We found that the face description component of the interview promoted better‐quality composites than the holistic component, but the most identifiable composites emerged when both components were used together in the same interview as an H‐CI. Composites were also more identifiable following description of all features of the face than an alternative involving description of hair. Implications are discussed for real‐world face construction using evolving systems. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.