Week 9 Reading 2; The social psychology of confessions: Complinance, internalization, and confabulation.

Question 1

Confessions and their role in the judicial process

Answer 1

 Confession evidence is a potent weapon for the prosecution
o But there can be controversary as to whether a suspects self-incriminating statement was voluntary or coerced and whether tha suspect was sound of mind when they confessed – these are the considerations judges and juries must consider
o There is guidelines to minimise the risk of false confessions; ie courts won’t accept confessions made under the treat of physical violence, punishment, harm or the promise of immunity/leniency or without the suspect knowing their Miranda rights

Question 2

Police use various methods of interrogation including;

Answer 2

 Presentation of false evidence
 Appeals to god/religion
 Feigned friendship
 Prison informants
 Reid Technique
* Recommends a bare, soundproof room absent from social support and distraction
* Then suggests implementing a 9-step procedure of various ploys utilising minimisation (a technique in qhich the detective lulls the suspect into a false sense of security by providing face-saving excuses, citing mitigating circumstances, blaming the victim and underplaying the charges) or maximisation (in which the interrogator uses scare tactics by exaggerating or falsifying the characterisation of evidence, the seriousness of the offense and the magnitude of the charges)

Question 3

In the US some coerced confessions may be accepted if believed to be …

Answer 3

nonprejudicial or harmless error
 Yet mock-jury research shows that people find it hard to believe that anyone would commit to a crime he/she didn’t commit
 It’s hard to estimate the prevalence of false confessions

Question 4

three types of false confession;

Answer 4

o Voluntary; in which a subject confesses in the absence of external pressure
o Coerced-Compliant; in which a suspect confesses only to escape an aversive interrogation, secure a promised benefit, or avoid a threatened harm
o Coerced-Internalised; in which a suspect actually comes to believe that he or she is guilty of the crim
 This last one if the most unlikely but some cases have occurred, often when police have procured someone who is vulnerable by virtue of their youth, intelligence, personality, stress or mental state etc
 Eg. Paul Ingram was charged with rape and slaughter or newborn babies. In the 6 months of interrogation, he was hypnotised, exposed to graphic details of the crime and told by police psychologists that sex offenders often repress their offences. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced but there was no physical evidence linking him to the crime, and an expert who reviewed the crime said Ingram has been brainwashed
 Memory researchers explain this, as postevent information can alter the actual or reported memory of an observed event

Question 5

This paper tested the hypothesis that

Answer 5

the presentation of false evidence can lead individuals who are vulnerable (in heightened state of uncertainty) to confess to an act they did not commit and to internalise the confession and perhaps confabulate details in memory consistent with that new belief

Question 6

Method of present study

Answer 6

 Method
o Participants placed in 2x2 factorial design placed in one of four groups (high or low vulnerability and presence or absence of false incriminating witnesses)
o Did a reaction time test and told not to press the alt key as it will crash the programme. Then computer was staged to crash after a minute, experimenter accused the participant of pressing the key. All subjects initially denied the charge.
o The level of vulnerability (ie. The subjective certainty regarding ones own innocence) was manipulated by the rate at which the confederate experimenter read out letters for the participant to hit in the time task (either fast or slow). More errors in typing would be made on the fast condition
o Also varied the use of false incriminating evidence by having a false-witness say they say the subject hit the alt key.
o Assess compliance (having participant write a letter admitting they did it) internalisation (by recording and coding participants explanation of what happened to a second confederate in a waiting room) or confabulation (asked participants to reconstruct how they hit the alt key to see if subjects would recall specific details to fit the allegation)

Question 7

Results of the present study

Answer 7

o 69% of subjects signed the confession
o 28% exhibited internalisation
o 9% confabulated details to support the false belief
 People in the control group were less likely to exhibit an effect

Question 8

significance of present study

Answer 8

 Study provides support for the provocative notion that the presentation of false incriminating evidence, an interrogation ploy used by police and allowed in courts can induce people to internalise blame for outcomes they did not produce