An experimental manipulation of rapport and moral minimization within a criminal interview.

Abstract

Rapport is often viewed as the foundation of a successful investigative interview for its ability to increase cooperation and help interviewers obtain reliable and comprehensive information. However, rapport building may also serve to increase interpersonal influence and thereby might increase the power of other tactics, such as minimization. The present study experimentally manipulated both rapport building and moral minimization to test their combined effects on the reporting of crime-relevant details. Interviewers posing as police interns interviewed 188 undergraduates to procure detailed information pertaining to participants' actual criminal behavior for which they believed they could face legal consequences. In the course of completing scripted interviews that included both open and cued questions, interviewers either built rapport or not, and either morally minimized participants' criminal behavior or not. Although neither rapport nor moral minimization independently increased the number of crime-relevant details acquired in the interview, they did evidence synergistic effects. This was indicated by a significant interaction, wherein moral minimization increased the number of crime-relevant details acquired during the interview, but only in combination with rapport. Similarly, rapport increased the number of crime-relevant details acquired, but only in combination with moral minimization. Although results support the importance of rapport within investigative interviews, they more generally indicate the potential for more synergistic effects between interviewing tactics. Accordingly, findings encourage the use of rapport in the conduct of information-gathering interviews designed to obtain comprehensive and truthful accounts and emphasize the prudence of avoiding potentially coercive tactics that might be strengthened when paired with rapport.

Evaluating the effectiveness of a 5-day training on science-based methods of interrogation with U.S. federal, state, and local law enforcement investigators.

“…In the absence of this, investigators may view science-based interview tactics as simply more “tools” for the proverbial “toolbox of interrogation tactics” (see Snook et al, 2020). We urge future researchers and trainers to consider this issue carefully and to explore the impact of direct instruction on practice, especially because few studies have examined the potency and reliability of interrogations that combine accusatorial-based methods with science-based approaches (cf., Vallano et al, 2022).…”

Interviewing young offenders about child-on-child sexual abuse

“…For example, Alison et al (2013) showed that rapport-building techniques were associated with positive interview outcomes, while Place and Meloy (2018) found that rapport strategies involving empathy best overcame interviewee resistance. More recent studies emphasize that supportive interviewing promotes rapport, cooperation, and informativeness on the part of adult suspects (e.g., Dianiska et al, 2021;Oleszkiewicz et al, 2023;Vallano et al, 2022). Interestingly, a concern with rapport throughout the interview is more effective than a focus on rapport-building only early in the interview (Baker-Eck & Bull, 2022).…”

“…Using the RSP, interviewers fostered greater responsiveness during the rapport-building phase, providing more details about a neutral event and sharing more information about themselves, suggesting that the children were more comfortable, trusting, and cooperative (Dianiska et al, 2021;Oleszkiewicz et al, 2023;Vallano et al, 2022). Similarly, the RP better promoted rapport during interviews with young suspected victims although interviewers tend to be more suspicious of young suspects than of alleged victims (Malloy & Lamb, 2010) and therefore rapport building with suspects is probably more challenging.…”