Incentives increase the rate of false but not true secondary confessions from informants with an allegiance to a suspect.
One hundred ninety-two students participated in an experimental simulation testing whether incentives would reduce the reluctance of informants to implicate a close other. Half of the students were made to feel interpersonally close to a confederate who either admitted to or denied a misdeed. All students were interrogated and encouraged to sign a secondary confession stating that the confederate had confessed to the misdeed; half were offered an incentive to do so. Contrary to expectations, closeness did not induce reluctance. Instead, the offer of incentive increased the number of participants willing to sign a secondary confession implicating a close other. Further analyses revealed that this increase occurred only for false secondary confessions. Implications for interrogation practices are discussed.
Swanner
Jessica K
JK
Department of Psychology, The University of Arkansas, 216 Memorial Hall, Fayetteville, AR 72701, USA. jessicaswanner@gmail.com
Beike
Denise R
DR
D003415:Crime; D008192:Deception; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D035846:Law Enforcement; D008297:Male; D009042:Motivation; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014342:Truth Disclosure; D014481:United States