Investigating the Truth: Selected Works of Ray Bull

299 Pages·2019·1.292 MB·English

by  Ray Bull

Investigating the Truth
In the World Library of Psychologists series, international experts present career-long
collections of what they judge to be their fi nest pieces – extracts from books, key
articles, salient research fi ndings, and their major practical theoretical contributions.
The selected works of Professor Ray Bull include some of the most infl uential
insights into the psychology of investigative interviewing. Whether it has been
determining whether a suspect is lying or telling the truth, enabling children to
provide reliable testimony, or understanding how the dynamics of the interview
process itself can aff ect what is achieved, Professor Bull has been at the forefront
in researching this fascinating area of applied psychology for over 40 years, his
work informing practice internationally. An elected Honorary Fellow of the British
Psychological Society and the fi rst Honorary Life Member of the International
Investigative Interviewing Research Group, Professor Bull also drafted parts of
the government’s Memorandum of Good Practice and of Achieving Best Evidence
on Video Recorded Interviews with Child Witnesses for Criminal Proceedings.
I ncluding a specially written introduction in which Professor Bull refl ects on a
wide-ranging career and contextualises how the fi eld has evolved, this collection
will be a valuable resource for students and researchers of forensic psychology.
Ray Bull is Professor of Criminal Investigation at the University of Derby, UK.
He has previously held the position of President of the European Association of
Psychology and Law. In 2008 he received from the European Association of
Psychology and Law the Award for Life-time Contribution to Psychology and
Law. He regularly acts as an expert witness and conducts workshops/training on
investigative interviewing.
World Library of Psychologists
The World Library of Psychologists series celebrates the important contributions
to psychology made by leading experts in their individual fi elds of study. Each
scholar has compiled a career-long collection of what they consider to be their
fi nest pieces: extracts from books, journals, articles, major theoretical and practi-
cal contributions, and salient research fi ndings.
For the fi rst time ever the work of each contributor is presented in a single
volume so readers can follow the themes and progress of their work and identify
the contributions made to, and the development of, the fi elds themselves.
Each book in the series features a specially written introduction by the contrib-
utor giving an overview of their career, contextualizing their selection within the
development of the fi eld, and showing how their thinking developed over time.
Attention, Perception and Action
Selected Works of Glyn Humphreys
By Glyn W. Humphreys
Facial Expression Recognition
Selected Works of Andy Young
By Andy Young
From Obscurity to Clarity in Psychometric Testing
Selected Works of Professor Peter Saville
By Professor Peter Saville
With Tom Hopton
Discovering the Social Mind
Selected Works of Christopher D. Frith
By Christopher D. Frith
Towards a Deeper Understanding of Consciousness
Selected Works of Max Velmans
By Max Velmans
Thinking Developmentally from Constructivism to Neuroconstructivism
Selected Works of Annette Karmiloff -Smith
By Annette Karmiloff -Smith
Acquired Language Disorders in Adulthood and Childhood
Selected Works of Elaine Funnell
Edited by Nicola Pitchford, Andrew W. Ellis
Exploring Working Memory
Selected Works of Alan Baddeley
By Alan Baddeley
Investigating the Truth
Selected Works of Ray Bull

Ray Bull
First published 2019
by Routledge
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and by Routledge
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Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2019 Ray Bull
The right of Ray Bull to be identifi ed as author of this work has been
asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identifi cation and
explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this book has been requested
ISBN: 978-1-138-04886-7 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-16991-0 (ebk)
Typeset in Times New Roman
by Sunrise Setting Ltd, Brixham, UK
Contents
List of contributors vii
Introduction 1
1 Evaluation of police recruit training involving psychology (1994) 22
RAY BULL AND PETER HORNCASTLE
2 Recall after briefi ng: television versus face-to-face
presentation (1975) 30
RAY BULL AND R. L. REID
3 Isolating the eff ects of the cognitive interview techniques (1997) 36
AMINA MEMON, LINSEY WARK, RAY BULL AND
GUENTER KOEHNKEN
4 Does the cognitive interview help children to resist the
eff ects of suggestive questioning? (2003) 56
REBECCA MILNE AND RAY BULL
5 The enhanced cognitive interview: expressions of uncertainty,
motivation and its relation with report accuracy (2016) 76
RUI M. PAULO, PEDRO B. ALBUQUERQUE AND RAY BULL
6 Child witnesses in Scottish criminal trials (1993) 93
RHONA FLIN, RAY BULL, JULIAN BOON AND ANNE KNOX
7 A state of high anxiety: how non-supportive interviewers
can increase the suggestibility of child witnesses (2006) 112
JEHANNE ALMERIGOGNA, JAMES OST, RAY BULL AND
LUCY AKEHURST
vi Contents
8 The investigative interviewing of children and other vulnerable
witnesses: psychological research and working/professional
practice (2010) 126
RAY BULL
9 True lies: police offi cers’ ability to detect suspects’ lies (2004) 147
SAMANTHA MANN, ALDERT VRIJ AND RAY BULL
10 Helping to sort the liars from the truth-tellers: the gradual
revelation of information during investigative
interviews (2015) 173
CORAL J. DANDO, RAY BULL, THOMAS C. ORMEROD AND
ALEXANDRA L. SANDHAM
11 Maximising opportunities to detect verbal deception:
training police offi cers to interview tactically (2011) 190
CORAL J. DANDO AND RAY BULL
12 What really happens in police interviews of suspects?
Tactics and confessions (2009) 206
S. SOUKARA, RAY BULL, ALDERT VRIJ, MARK TURNER AND
JULIE CHERRYMAN
13 Examining rapport in investigative interviews with
suspects: does its building and maintenance work? (2012) 221
DAVE WALSH AND RAY BULL
14 Police strategies and suspect responses in real-life
serious crime interviews (2016) 240
SAMANTHA LEAHY-HARLAND AND RAY BULL
15 What is ‘believed’ or actually ‘known’ about characteristics
that may contribute to being a good/eff ective
interviewer? (2013) 265
RAY BULL
Index 282
Contributors
Lucy Akehurst, Department of Psychology, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth,
UK.
Pedro B. Albuquerque , School of Law and Criminology, University of Derby,
Derby, UK.
Jehanne Almerigogna, Department of Psychology, University of Portsmouth,
Portsmouth, UK.
Julian Boon , Leicester University, UK.
Ray Bull , School of Law and Criminology, University of Derby, Derby, UK.
Julie Cherryman, Department of Psychology, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth,
UK.
Coral J. Dando , Department of Psychology, University of Wolverhampton, UK.
Rhona Flin , Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, UK.
Peter Horncastle , PA Consulting Group, London, UK.
Anne Knox , Glasgow Caledonian University, UK.
Guenter Koehnken , Institut für Psychologie, University of Kiel, Germany.
Samantha Leahy-Harland , Bournemouth University, Poole, UK.
Samantha Mann , Psychology Department, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth,
UK.
Amina Memon, School of Human Development, University of Texas at Dallas,
USA.
Rebecca Milne , Institute of Criminal Justice Studies, University of Portsmouth,
UK.
Thomas C. Ormerod , Department of Psychology, Lancaster University, UK.
James Ost, Department of Psychology, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth,
UK.
viii Contributors
Rui M. Paulo , School of Psychology, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal.
R. L. Reid , Department of Psychology, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK.
Alexandra L. Sandham , Department of Psychology, Lancaster University, UK.
S. Soukara , Athens Metropolitan College, Athens, Greece; School of Psychol-
ogy, University of Leicester, UK.
Mark Turner, Department of Psychology, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth,
UK.
Aldert Vrij , Psychology Department, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth, UK.
Dave Walsh , School of Law and Criminology, University of Derby, Derby, UK.
Linsey Wark , Department of Psychology, University of Southampton, UK.
Introduction

This introduction contains an overview outlining the evolution of my research
career from (i) fi rst working with/researching the police in the 1970s and 1980s to
investigate the truth in relation to their expectations of increased eff ectiveness
regarding recruit training and the memorability of briefi ngs (Part 1); to (ii)
developing and assessing the eff ectiveness of the ‘cognitive interview’ that had
been designed to assist witnesses to recall what truly happened (Part 2); to (iii)
conducting research on how best to interview/question children in order to get to
the truth (Part 3); to (iv) researching people’s (false) assumptions about liars’
behaviour and eff ective ways to detect truth/lies (Part 4); to (v) developing ways to
get suspects to tell the truth (Part 5).
Part 1: Police
S everal months after graduating with a BSc in psychology (with mathematical
statistics) I was invited by Professor Leslie Reid (my head of department) to
(temporarily we thought) move away from my research towards gaining a PhD in
psychophysiology (see Bull & Gale, 1971, 1973, 1974, 1975) to work for 12 months
on a research project funded by the Police Scientifi c Development Branch of the
Home Offi ce. This project involved assessing the truth in relation to the police
organisation’s expectation that television broadcasts would make the contents of
daily operational briefi ngs that contained a variety of information more memorable
to patrol offi cers (e.g. who or what to look out for). (In 1971 this was a novel idea.)
Traditionally, in England such briefi ngs had been delivered face-to-face by a duty
sergeant who typically read out to a group of offi cers a rather long list of items
selected from an even greater number of available items. In contrast, not only
did the televised briefi ngs present more visual information, they also contained
fewer items. We fi rst of all found that more televised briefi ng information was
later recalled than the face-to-face briefi ng information. However, we were aware
of seminal research in the domain of cognitive psychology that people might
better be able to recall around seven items than a larger number of items (e.g.
Miller, 1956).
T his was one of the reasons why the police and the Home Offi ce agreed to fund
our research project for a further 12 months and to our conducting of an experiment