ABSTRACT
Witness motivation is important for the Cognitive Interview (CI); particularly when interviewing children. The components of the CI (transferring control, open-ended questions and prompts, and the use of mnemonics, including imagery and context reinstatement) result in an interview that is more cognitively demanding than one in which the child witness is allowed to passively respond. In this chapter the authors suggest that improving witnesses’ motivation would improve the CI’s efficacy. Thus, they propose considering the structure of the CI through the lens of Self-Determination Theory, a well-developed theory of motivation outlined by Deci and Ryan (2000). The CI already supports SDT’s three major psychological needs of autonomy, competence, and relatedness. The chapter reports findings that assessed the connection between children’s memory for a staged event (when interviewed with a CI) and the psychological need support from SDT present in the interview. The authors found positive correlations between recall and support for each psychological need (autonomy, relatedness, and competence). Additionally, there was positive correlation between children’s engagement with the interview and need support. There was no relation between accuracy or the quality of the information recalled and need support.
