Cross-Cultural Perceptions of Police Interview Techniques: A Comparative Study of Indonesian and Dutch Respondents

Conducting an interview can be especially challenging with suspects from cultures different from the interviewer’s own. Previous studies show that a suspect’s culture and communication style (e.g., collectivism/individualism & high/low-context) may affect their response to the interview techniques used by the interviewer. The current study aimed to explore and compare the perception of common interview techniques between two cultures, Indonesian (high-context culture; n  = 155) and Dutch (low-context culture; n  = 125). After reading a vignette of a fictional crime, participants estimated the likelihood of the suspect giving information in response to various interview techniques. An exploratory factor analysis revealed a five-factor model of interviewing: Humanity, Dominance/Control , Empathy/Perspective-taking, Rapport and Guilt-focused . Indonesian participants perceived the Dominance/Control category as more likely to elicit information from the suspect than did their Dutch counterparts. Moreover, Empathy/Perspective-taking was perceived to be more effective in eliciting information by the Dutch participants than by the Indonesian participants. An examination of the mean scores revealed that both groups perceived Dominance/Control and Guilt-focused techniques as being somewhat effective. The findings indicate that an interviewee’s culture could well play a role in how they respond to the interviewer’s approach. Therefore, the cultural background of the suspect should be taken into consideration while preparing for the interview and also during the interview. Raising more awareness of the consequences of harsher interviewing techniques may also be beneficial.