title: Language style matching and police interrogation outcomes.
abstract: This research examined the coordination of interrogator and suspects' verbal behavior in interrogations. Sixty-four police interrogations were examined at the aggregate and utterance level using a measure of verbal mimicry known as Language Style Matching. Analyses revealed an interaction between confession and the direction of language matching. Interrogations containing a confession were characterized by higher rates of the suspect matching the interrogators' language style than interrogations without a confession. A sequence analysis of utterance-level Language Style Matching revealed a divergence in the type of matching that occurred across outcome. There was a linear increase in interrogator-led matching for interrogations containing a confession and an increase in suspect-led matching for nonconfession interrogations. These findings suggest that police interrogations play out, in part, at the basic level of language coordination.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Lancaster University.
authors.forename: Beth H
authors.initials: BH
authors.lastname: Richardson
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Lancaster University.
authors.forename: Paul J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Taylor
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Memorial University.
authors.forename: Brent
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Snook
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Lancaster University.
authors.forename: Stacey M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Conchie
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Carleton University.
authors.forename: Craig
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bennell
mesh_terms: D002170:Canada; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D007802:Language; D016495:Police; D014705:Verbal Behavior