Innocence and resisting confession during interrogation: Effects on physiologic activity.

Abstract

Innocent suspects may not adequately protect themselves during interrogation because they fail to fully appreciate the danger of the situation. This experiment tested whether innocent suspects experience less stress during interrogation than guilty suspects, and whether refusing to confess expends physiologic resources. After experimentally manipulating innocence and guilt, 132 participants were accused and interrogated for misconduct, and then pressured to confess. Systolic and diastolic blood pressure (SBP, DBP), heart rate (HR), respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), and preejection period (PEP) responses quantified stress reactions. As hypothesized, the innocent evidenced smaller stress responses to interrogation for SBP, DBP, HR, and RSA than did the guilty. Furthermore, innocents who refused to confess exhibited greater sympathetic nervous system activation, as evidenced by shorter PEPs, than did innocent or guilty confessors. These findings suggest that innocent suspects underestimate the threat of interrogation and that resisting pressures to confess can diminish suspects' physiologic resources and lead to false confessions.

Does Informal Social Control Deter Child Abuse? A Comparative Study of Koreans and Russians

“…Minimization places greater pressure on the innocent than the guilty (Russano et al 2005), and is hence discouraged for use by police. The innocent relax more quickly than the guilty under interrogation (Inbau et al 2011), experience less stress and underestimate the threat of interrogation (Guyll et al 2013). However, individuals falsely accused of serious crimes (e.g., child sex offenses) express helplessness, hopelessness, and pervasive anger (Craig 2005).…”

The Social Psychology of False Confessions

“…Other research shows that innocent people do not use self‐presentation “strategies” in their narratives when interviewed by police (Hartwig, Granhag, Strömwall, & Vrij, ; Hartwig, Granhag, & Strömwall, ); they offer up alibis freely, without regard for the fact that police would view minor inaccuracies with suspicion (Olson & Charman, ); and they become less physiologically aroused in response to the stress of an accusatory interrogation (Guyll et al., ). In the plea bargaining domain, experiments have shown that most participants who are accused of a transgression they did not commit—compared to those who are guilty—refuse to accept a plea offer, often to their own detriment, because they are confident of acquittal (Gregory, Mowen, & Linder, ; Tor, Gazal‐Ayal, & Garcia, ).…”

Coercive Interrogation of Eyewitnesses Can Produce False Accusations

“…Our study is also fairly simple, with only two conditions, and with a very limited set of dependent variables. We have little ability to address the psychological experiences of the participants during interrogation in a way that has been so thoroughly investigated in other, more sophisticated and informative studies (e.g., Guyll et al, 2013).…”