Subtle Skills for Building Rapport - interviewing

FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin,The, August, 2001 by Vincent A. Sandoval, Susan H. Adams

Using Neuro-Linguistic Programming in the Interview Room

Detective Hamilton is using techniques from Neuro-Linguistic Programming, a communication model with a name he might not even recognize. Yet, his years of interviewing have taught him the techniques. To establish rapport with this witness, Detective Hamilton knows that he needs to match her nonverbal behavior, or kinesics, by sitting down and leaning forward. When the witness begins to talk, Detective Hamilton listens carefully to her words and intentionally uses similar language. He also pays close attention to how she talks and matches her paralanguage (speech rate, volume, and pitch). In so doing, Detective Hamilton builds rapport with the witness and, hence, increases his chances of gathering pertinent information during the interview.

Detective Hamilton and other experienced investigators recognize the crucial role that rapport plays in an interview. Derived from the French verb rapporter meaning "to bring back," the English word rapport refers to a relationship or communication characterized by harmony. [1] With this in mind, the need for rapport applies to all interviews, but especially to those involving a victim or witness who has experienced physical or psychological abuse. The interviewer's task is similar to that of the clinical psychologist, who must initially develop a personal bond with his client before intimate feelings are shared. [2] Thus, investigators can enhance their rapport-building skills by examining some practical recommendations derived from the behavior modification technique known as Neuro-Linguistic Programming.

UNDERSTANDING NEURO-LINGUISTIC PROGRAMMING

In the early 1970s, John Grinder, an assistant professor of linguistics at the University of California in Santa Cruz, and Richard Bandler, a student of psychology, identified patterns used by successful therapists. They packaged them in a way that could be passed on to others through a model now known as Neuro-Linguistic Programming, or NLP. [3]

Neuro-Linguistic Programming embraces three simple concepts. First, the neuro part of NLP recognizes the fundamental idea that all human behavior originates from neurological processes, which include seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, and feeling. In essence, people experience the world through their senses. Second, they communicate their experiences verbally, through language; [4] therefore, the linguistic part of NLP refers to this use of language to communicate thoughts. Finally, the programming aspect of NLP recognizes that individuals choose to organize their ideas and actions to produce results. Each person also decides how to organize these ideas in a specific manner. [5]

The NLP founders theorize that people think differently and that these differences correspond to individual programming or processing systems. People use their senses outwardly to perceive the world and inwardly to "re-present" this experience to themselves. In NLP, representational systems denote ways people take in, store, and code information in their minds. [6] These systems pertain to the principal human senses--seeing (visual), hearing (auditory), and feeling (kines-thetic). To a lesser degree, they involve tasting (gustatory) and smelling (olfactory). People constantly see, hear, and feel whatever transpires around them. When individuals relate these experiences to others, they mentally access the sights, sounds, or feelings associated with these experiences and communicate them through their predominant representational system. [7]

BUILDING RAPPORT WITH NLP

Enhancing communication and, hence, building rapport represents the most applicable aspect of NLP to investigators. The ability to communicate effectively and build rapport stands as one of the major contributors to a police officer's s success in dealing with the public. [8] In an interview setting, effective communication involves the interviewer's skill in establishing rapport through specific actions and words, thereby building trust and encouraging the interviewee to provide information.

Others besides successful law enforcement interviewers have found NLP techniques helpful in rapport building. For example, some medical hypnotists use the concept of "matching" with highly resistant clients. [9] By simply conforming their nonverbal behavior to that of each client, by using language from the client's preferred representational system (visual, auditory, or kinesthetic), and by matching the client's volume, tone, and rate of speech (paralanguage), they often can overcome the client's reluctance to communicate.

When interviewers intentionally align themselves with a witness or suspect through these matching or mirroring techniques, the interviewee is more inclined to respond to the interviewer and subsequently provide information. As one researcher points out, "people like people who are like themselves." [10] Once interviewers establish rapport, barriers disappear, trust grows, and an exchange of information follows. To achieve these results, interviewers should match or "mirror" the interviewee's kinesics, language, and paralanguage.