Criteria-Based Content Analysis (CBCA)

Max Steller, Günter Köhnken · 1989

The 19 content criteria of Statement Validity Assessment for judging whether an account shows features characteristic of truthful, experience-based statements.

Work in progress — this scale ships domain definitions while its curated agent skills are still being authored. Domains may change as it is completed.

CBCA is the core of Statement Validity Assessment (SVA). It assesses whether a statement's content shows features that research associates with truthful, experience-based accounts. The 19 criteria are textbook instance-highlighting targets in a monologue (e.g. quoted conversation, subjective mental state, spontaneous corrections).

Work in progress. This scale currently ships domain definitions only — the curated per-criterion agent skills are still being authored. Domains may change as the scale is completed. CBCA should never be used in isolation to judge truthfulness.

Domains (8)

Logical StructureLOG

The statement is coherent and internally consistent; details fit together logically.

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Unstructured ProductionUNS

Information is presented in a non-chronological, scattered way, as spontaneous recall often is.

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Quantity of DetailsQTY

The account is rich in specific details of place, time, persons, and events.

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Contextual EmbeddingCTX

Events are embedded in a spatial and temporal context and connected to daily-life circumstances.

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Reproduction of ConversationCNV

Speech during the event is reproduced, ideally quoting distinct speakers verbatim.

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Accounts of Subjective Mental StateSMS

The speaker describes their own feelings or thoughts during the event.

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Spontaneous CorrectionsCOR

The speaker spontaneously corrects or revises details without prompting.

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Admitting Lack of MemoryMEM

The speaker admits not remembering some detail rather than filling gaps.

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Steller M, Köhnken G. Criteria-Based Content Analysis. In: Raskin DC, ed. Psychological Methods in Criminal Investigation and Evidence. Springer; 1989:217-245.

Criteria are published and reproducible with citation (see also Amado, Arce & Fariña 2015, open access). CBCA is an investigative aid, not a standalone credibility test.