Elisa Gambetti

The Enhanced Cognitive Interview: A study on the efficacy of shortened variants and single techniques

The superiority of the Enhanced Cognitive Interview (ECI) over standard police interview protocols has been strongly supported. Recently, some authors have underlined the need to develop shorter versions of the ECI appealing for time-critical situations. There is some evidence that disregarding change order and change perspectives techniques could yield a brief but still efficient version of ECI. The present study aimed to examine some shortened versions of the ECI in comparison with the full ECI. One hundred participants watched a video of a crime and were interviewed with one of the five interviewing procedure: complete ECI, three shortened ECIs, and Structured Interview. Full ECI elicited a greater amount of correct information compared to the other interviews, with the exception of the shortened version that omitted change order and change perspectives techniques. Theoretical and applicative implications are discussed.

Individual differences and reasoning: A study on personality traits

Personality can play a crucial role in how people reason and decide. Identifying individual differences related to how we actively gather information and use evidence could lead to a better comprehension and predictability of human reasoning. Recent findings have shown that some personality traits are related to similar decision-making patterns showed by people with mental disorders. We performed research with the aim to investigate delusion-proneness, obsessive-like personality, anxiety (trait and state), and reasoning styles in individuals from the general population. We introduced personality trait and state anxiety scores in a regression model to explore specific associations with: (1) amount of data-gathered prior to making a decision; and (2) the use of confirmatory and disconfirmatory evidence. Results showed that all our independent variables were positively or negatively associated with the amount of data collected in order to make simple probabilistic decisions. Anxiety and obsessiveness were the only predictors of the weight attributed to evidence in favour or against a hypothesis. Findings were discussed in relation to theoretical assumptions, predictions, and clinical implications. Personality traits can predict peculiar ways to reason and decide that, in turn, could be involved to some extent in the formation and/or maintenance of psychological disorders.

Trait anger and anger expression style in children's risky decisions

In this study, 104 children completed a task, measuring risk decision-making, and the State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory for Children and Adolescents. Subjects were also asked to evaluate the degree of danger, benefit, fun and fear perceived for each risky choice. Analyses indicated that (a) risk decision-making was predicted by both trait anger and outward expression of anger; (b) appraisal of danger fully mediated the relationship between trait anger and risk; (c) perceptions of benefit, scare and fun partially mediated the relationship between trait anger and risk; and (d) appraisal of danger partially mediated the relationship between outward expression of anger and risk decision-making. The results provide evidence for a relationship between dispositional anger and risk decision-making during childhood, suggesting a possible explanation of the mechanisms below. In particular, risk decision-making can be viewed as the output of cognitive and emotive processes, linked to dispositional anger that leads children to be amused, optimistic and fearless in potentially risky situations. These findings substantiate the importance of incorporating cognitive and emotive factors in theories that seek to explain the relationship between personality traits and risk decision-making across a broad age range.

Individual differences in the Enhanced Cognitive Interview: the role of imagery

The aim was to explore the role of imagery in the Enhanced Cognitive Interview (ECI). The use of imagery was specifically introduced in the ECI and it is reasonable that some mixed results on specific mnemonics could be due to individual differences in the use of imagery ability. Eighty participants performed a questionnaire (Verbalizer–Visualizer Questionnaire) to measure their imagery abilities and watched a short film. Successively, participants were informed that they would be interviewed the next day as witnesses of the event they viewed earlier. Each participant was randomly allocated to one of the two interview conditions: ECI or Structured Interview (SI). Results showed that: (1) ECI elicited more correct information, specifically for action and environmental details, than SI; (2) mental image users (visualizers) recalled more correct information than verbal users (verbalizers) apart from type of interview used without increased confabulation and incorrect information. Results are discussed on the basis of the recent research on imagery individual differences for each ECI techniques.

The trauma symptom inventory: Italian validation of an instrument for the assessment of post-traumatic symptoms.

AIM The trauma symptom inventory (TSI; Briere, 1995) is a useful instrument for the assessment of post-traumatic and common trauma-related mental health symptoms. The purpose of the study was to validate the Italian version of the original TSI. METHODS Participants from non-clinical (n = 285), clinical (n = 110) and post-traumatic (n = 30) samples completed the TSI as part of a battery that included self-report measures of trauma exposure [MMPI-2 PK scale and Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R)] and of psychological symptoms [brief symptom inventory (BSI) and symptom questionnaire (SQ)]. TSI validity scales were compared with MMPI-2 validity scales in order to assess convergent validity. RESULTS The TSI Italian version showed adequate internal consistency reliability and a good convergent validity. Discriminant function analysis indicates a classification accuracy of TSI scales of 90% for true-positive and 91.4% for true-negative post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) cases. A revised three-factor structural model, which demonstrated an adequate and the best fit for the data, was proposed. CONCLUSIONS The study extended the generalization and validity of TSI and provided some suggestions for eventually revisiting factorial structure of the questionnaire.

Integration information in the judicial field: adding versus averaging models

Abstract In the course of a trial, the main task that every judge or juror has to face concerns the evaluation of various pieces of evidence from a variety of different sources, with the aim of integrating such data into a single, final verdict. Algebraic models have tried to explain and predict decisional paths by identifying formal, mathematical combinatory rules. The aim of the present research was to test two main integration information models, namely adding and averaging, when combining items of judicial evidence. In the first study, we investigated how the probability of guilt varied as a function of the value of the pieces of evidence and information presented, in legal and not legal professional samples. In the second study, we analysed combinatory rules with more complex and realistic experimental material. Results indicated that participants summed the values of pieces of evidence in a linear fashion when they had to provide estimates of guilt. We found evidence of an adding rule among both legal and not legal professionals as well as in simple and more complex judicial cases, thus providing even stronger support for the use and the generalization of a summative model. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

The influence of high autistic personality traits on the attribution of intentionality in typically developing individuals

ABSTRACT The present study investigated the association between autistic personality traits and cognitive and affective Theory of Mind abilities, as well as whether intentionality attribution was atypical in individuals with autistic personality traits, such as in individuals with autism spectrum disorder, who tend to over-attribute intentions when facing accidental harm involving negative outcomes. One-hundred individuals performed tasks assessing autistic personality traits, Theory of Mind abilities, and provided intentionality judgments to scenarios characterized by side effects, which involved unintended negative outcomes as well. Results showed that autistic personality traits are associated with reduced cognitive and affective Theory of Mind abilities, as well as with increased intentionality attributions towards side effects. Reduced cognitive Theory of Mind ability mediates the relationship between autistic personality traits and over-attribution of intentionality, suggesting that individuals with autistic personality traits base their intentionality evaluations more on side effects than on agent’s intentions, as in autism spectrum disorder.

Decisions about a crime: downward and upward counterfactuals

ABSTRACT Deciding about people’s responsibility, intentions and need for punishment is particularly hard and it may be often associated with counterfactual thinking, which refers to the creation of mental alternatives to actual events. Ninety-three participants were asked to generate downward or upward counterfactuals regarding a given criminal event and, then, to give judgments about defendant’s predictability, responsibility, intentionality and punishment. Results showed that downward counterfactuals had led people to judge the event less intentional, the defendant less responsible and, therefore, to give him a less severe punishment (vice versa for upward). The relationship between counterfactuals and intentionality judgments was partially mediated by the perceived defendant’s predictability of the negative outcomes. Finally, downward counterfactuals were linked to a greater focus on the context (external factors), whereas upward counterfactuals on the defendant/victim’s behaviours (internal factors). Findings were discussed considering both theoretical decision-making models and applications on the judicial field.

The attribution of intentionality: the role of skill and morality

The present study contributes to the discussion on the different components which constitute the intentionality concept about an undesired side effect, focusing on the morality and the skill. Two hundred and forty participants were asked to read a brief story about a car accident, in which it was explained the motivation of the high speed and objective and subjective skill of the agent to drive the car, and to fill in six questions about intentionality, objective risk, mental representation of risk, risk acceptance and blameworthiness for the outcome. The principal results showed that when the motivation is morally negative, people judge the side effect more intentional, also because they make more severe judgments about risk and blameworthiness. Moreover, when people are objectively proficient to perform the action (objective skill) the side effect is considered less risky and intentional and, in the case of a negative outcome, they are judged less severely than if they have a poor ability. Finally, a self-assessment of low skill to make the action (subjective skill) leads people to assess higher risks and, consequently, more intentionality for the side effect. The results are discussed on the basis of the literature about some specific components that make up the intentionality concept.

Intentional or negligent homicide? Evidence for juror decision making

The present study examined the influence of specific evidence and testimonies on a juror’s decision to make a verdict of intentional or negligent homicide in a Civil law country. Italian students (N = 280; M age = 25.0 years, SD = 2.9) read different affidavits characterized by the presence or absence of three elements against the defendant: motive, skill in use of weapons, and previous violence toward the victim. Participants then decided a verdict and provided a confidence judgment on their decision. Results showed that the presence of motive, skill, and previous violence influenced the jurors’ decision, significantly changing the verdict from negligent to intentional homicide. The findings were discussed in terms of the folk-concept approach of intentionality.