Assignment
Investigative interviews are an important tool during the investigative process. With the information gained during an interview an investigation can follow up on leads until the crime is solved. Therefore it is important that the information gained during an investigative interview is as detailed and accurate as possible. One such method that is said to aid in increasing information yield and cooperation during the investigative interview is rapport.
Rapport is the process of building a relationship between the interaction partners. Numerous research could show that a good nonverbal predictor of rapport is mimicry (the unconscious copying of each other’s body movements, speech patterns and manners): If rapport is high mimicry was found to be high and vice-versa.
As the measure of mimicry can be tedious, we used motion captures suits in the past but failed to replicate a relationship between rapport and mimicry measured with motion capture suits. With this project, we want to add a human coder to find out why that might be. A possible explanation is that the questionnaires we used and the mimicry measure did measure different aspects of rapport.
Within this internship, you will be based within the PCRS department. Your internship has two main focus points:
- You will be tasked with the coding of mimicry from mock police interviews.
- You will be tasked with the coding of rapport from mock police interviews.
KEYWORDS
Suspect interview; Investigative interview; Rapport; Mimicry; Motion Capture Suits
BACKGROUND INFORMATION ORGANIZATION
The section Psychology of Conflict, Risk and Safety at the University of Twente has a distinctive and unique profile in the areas of risk perception and risk communication, conflict and crisis management and the antecedents of risky, antisocial and criminal behaviour. It currently includes 15 research staff members and 6 PhD students. We work from both a psychology and an engineering perspective and cooperate with other scientific disciplines, based on the “high tech, human touch” profile of the University of Twente.
AVAILABILITY
Available in block 2B. This internship is open for 2 students.
INTERESTED?
Please contact the PCRS internship coordinator Miriam Oostinga (m.s.d.oostinga@utwente.nl).
LITERATURE
- Abbe, A., & Brandon, S. E. (2013). The role of rapport in investigative interviewing: A review. Journal of investigative psychology and offender profiling, 10(3), 237-249.
- Lakin, J. L., & Chartrand, T. L. (2003). Using nonconscious behavioral mimicry to create affiliation and rapport. Psychological science, 14(4), 334-339.
- Weiher, L., Watson, S. J., Taylor, P. J., & Luther, K. (2023). How multiple interviews and interview framing influence the development and maintenance of rapport. Psychology, Crime & Law, 1-25.