Reading comp PrepTest 150 · Section 1 · Question 9

Topic: Legal

Paragraph 1

• Paragraph note
  • Background on the purpose of eyewitness interview, cognitive interview
• Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
  • List of methods to interview eyewitnesses, item 1:
    • Cognitive interview (last sentence)

Paragraph 2

• Paragraph note
  • Cognitive interview evaluation
• Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
  • Author's view:
    • Although the cognitive interview increases the number of accurate details eyewitnesses recall without increasing the number of inaccurate recollections, it is complex and requires substantial training (second and third sentence)
  • Example of technique to improve recall in the cognitive interview:
    • Multiple retrieval attempts (first sentence)
  • Examples of techniques developed by social psychologists in the cognitive interview:
    • Conversation-management skills and techniques for building rapport (first sentence)
  • Cause-and-effect relationship:
    • The complexity of cognitive interviews causes some officers to not receive training and other officers to deviate from procedures (last sentence)
  • Author's attitude: "known to improve recall" (first sentence); "general consensus" (second sentence); "proven successful" (second sentence); "little impact on the number of incorrect details" (second sentence); "problem" (third sentence); "complex" (third sentence); "substantial training" (third sentence)

Paragraph 3

• Paragraph note
  • Hypnosis evaluation
• Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
  • List of methods to interview eyewitnesses, item 2:
    • Hypnosis (first sentence)
  • Definition of "false confidence" effect: Effect in which witnesses are more confident in their reports, including inaccurate reports (fifth sentence)
  • Author's view:
    • Hypnosis is less complicated than cognitive interviews, but it does not improve the accuracy of witnesses' responses; sometimes, it even decreases accuracy, leads to "false confidence," and won't work on the interviewee (third through last sentences)
  • Cause-and-effect relationships:
    • Hypnosis can cause less accurate reports and false confidence in eyewitnesses (third and fourth sentences)
  • Author's atttidue: "not generally improved" (third sentence); "deterioate" (third sentence); "practical difficulties" (last sentence); "most notably" (last sentence)

Paragraph 4

• Paragraph note
  • Author's advocacy for instructing eyewitnesses to close their eyes
• Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
  • List of methods to interview eyewitnesses, item 3:
    • Instructing eyewitnesses to close their eyes (third sentence)
  • Author's view:
    • The ideal method for interviewing eyewitnesses would require no special training, work for any potential eyewitness, and improve recall without increasing errors; instructing eyewitnesses to close their eyes has these characteristics (first through last sentence)
  • Cause-and-effect relationship:
    • Instructing eyewitnesses to close their eyes can cause witnesses to better remember visual and auditory materials (including video and events witnessed through live interactions) (fourth sentence)
  • Comparison between instructing eyewitnesses to close their eyes and hypnotic technique:
    • Instructing eyewitnesses to close their eyes helps eyewitnesses recall more details than hypnosis and works on more people than hypnosis (fifth sentence)
  • Comparison between instructing eyewitnesses to close their eyes and cognitive interview:
    • Equally good in improving eyewitnesses' ability to remember, but instructing eyewitnesses to close their eyes is easier to implement (sixth and last sentences)
  • Author's attitude: "ideal method" (first sentence); "may in fact" (second sentence); "demonstrate" (fourth sentence); "benefit recall" (fourth sentence); "indicate an improvement over hypnotic interviewing" (fifth sentence); "no problems" (fifth sentence); "More significantly" (sixth sentence)

Main Point: Instructing eyewitnesses to close their eyes is the ideal interview method for police interviews because it improves eyewitness recall more than hypnosis and with less specialized training than the cognitive interview.

Paragraph 2, Sentences 2-3 (P2, S2-3) - Evaluation of cognitive interview

P3, S3-5 - Evaluation of hypnosis

P4, S4-7 - Recommends instructing eyewitnesses to close their eyes

Problem/Solution: We think this passage best fits the Problem/Solution Meta-Structure. That said, this passage doesn't clearly embody any of the Meta-Structures. One could convincingly argue that this was a Resolving a Debate, an Old Approach/New Approach passage, or a Correcting the Record passage. Ultimately, we settled on Problem/Solution because the author defines a problem in the first sentences of the first and last paragraphs and a solution in the last paragraph. The problem is that in eyewitness interviews, investigators want to maximize the amount of information they can elicit (P1, S1), using a technique that doesn't require significant training but yields reliable results from any potential eyewitness (P4, S1). And the solution is, simply enough, to instruct eyewitnesses to close their eyes during the interview (P4, S3-7).

The main point in a Problem/Solution passage is typically the solution the author proffers or endorses. So, here's how we defined the main point: "Instructing eyewitnesses to close their eyes is the ideal interview method for police interviews because it improves eyewitness recall more than hypnosis and with less specialized training than the cognitive interview."

Comparisons: This passage makes liberal use of all the minor Meta-Structures, but comparisons are the most prominent. In fact, the comparisons between the three interview techniques are so prevalent that we incorporated these comparisons into our main point. This passage’s many comparisons are enumerated in the Passage Summary, above. 

As we mentioned in the Meta-Structure section, this passage is teeming with comparisons. So many, in fact, that we should expect several questions that test our understanding of the relative strengths and weaknesses of each interview technique. If you feel comfortable memorizing a few comparisons, that can save you a lot of time as you progress through the questions. (If you don’t feel confident memorizing these, that’s OK too. You can always check the passage to answer the questions, especially if you use your notes and highlights/underliens to review the passage efficiently.) In case you want to memorize these facts, we've listed out a few notes to clarify the relative strengths and weaknesses of each approach:

• The cognitive interview produces more accurate results than hypnosis but requires specialized training.
• Hypnosis produces less accurate results than the cognitive interview and instructing eyewitnesses to close their eyes, but its techniques are less complex than the cognitive interview. However, it works on fewer people than the cognitive interview and eye closing.
• Instructing eyewitnesses to close their eyes produces equally accurate results as the cognitive interview and more accurate results than hypnosis, but its training and techniques are easier than the cognitive interview, and it works on more people than hypnosis.