Hophead concepts and characteristics

Research Question: When do police interrogation techniques lead to false confessions/false witness testimony, and how can false confessions be prevented?

Annotation1
Reference: Forrest, K.D., Wadkins, T.A. & Larson, B.A. (2006). Suspect personality, police interrogations, and false confessions: Maybe it is not just the situation. Personality and Individual Differences 40(3): 621-628.

Annotation: The authors empirically test the hypothesis that there are personality traits that might be associated with false confessions. The authors recognize that prior research has often focused on environmental factors in the police interrogation setting, but that personality and individual difference might also have a bearing on a person’s susceptibility to falsely confessing. For example, the authros claim that prior studies have focused on interrogation length, presentation of false evidence and other manipulative ploys, and the leaking of case details to stimulate a false confession. Prior research on personality traits includes variables like suggestibility and locus of control. This study also focuses on locus of control, but takes into account what Forrest, Wadkins & Larson (2006) refer to as internalizations. Using a suggestibility scale measure, the authors predict that various personality traits linked with suggestibility would make a person more vulnerable to internalizing an event or act, and therefore falsely confessing. Results showed that one suggestibility trait in particular, called “yield,” was significantly correlated with willingness to sign a false confession. Overall, more than 81% of participants ended up falsely confessing, with tremendous implications for law enforcement practice.

This article ties in with the body of literature on psychological variables involved in false confessions. It can be used to better inform police policy and practice. Another feature of this article is that the authors differentiate between types of false confession. For example, Forrest, Wadkins & Larson (2006) refer to the role of real or imagined pressure laced during the interrogation, the fact that many people are trying to protect someone else by falsely confessing, and finally, the internalization type, which is investigated in this study. This source directly answers my research question about when false confessions are more likely to occur and how to best prevent false confessions.

Annotation 2
Reference: Ofshe, R.J. & Leo, R.A. (1997). The social psychology of police interrogation. Studies in Law, Politics, and Society 16(1997): https://www.reid.com/pdfs/doj2301_2399.pdf

Annotation: Although this source is 20 years old, as Forrest, Wadkins & Larson (2006) point out, “there is little evidence that the frequency of false confessions has decreased” at all since the 1990s (p. 621). In this research by Ofshe & Leo (1997), the authors first trace the historical evolution of police interrogation techniques from the use of the “third degree” physical torture methods to the use of more psychological methods like “suggestion, deception, and too often, superficially disguised threats of punishment and promises of leniency to move subjects to confession,” (p. 2). Whereas some of the research focuses on the subject level variables, this research focuses on the police variables, using a social-psychology approach.

The researchers outline the frequency of false confessions, the importance of studying false confessions as a matter of public policy, and how both false and true confessions involve some of the same psychological mechanisms. Additionally, the authors talk about different interrogation techniques like accusatory methods and deliberately targeting innocent people. There are two phases of interrogation, according to the authors: the pre-admission phase and the post-admission narrative. Ofshe & Leo (1997) also discuss why suspects will agree to interrogations in the first place, often waiving their rights. Overall, this is an immensely thorough work of literature. Although not experimental, it has a direct bearing on the research question related to the circumstances of false confessions and how to prevent them.