The roles of interrogation, perception, and individual differences in producing compliant false confessions

Abstract

This study utilized an experimental design to examine the amount of variance in false confessions that was explained by three types of variables. These variable sets were interrogation tactics, perceptions, and individual differences. The results indicated that interrogation tactics alone explained only a trivial amount of variance; whereas perceptions and individual differences each explained significant amounts of the variance in false confessions. The individual difference measure called interrogative compliance was found to be particularly important in explaining false confessions. Implications for theory are discussed.