Feeling guilty: little effect on false confession rate
In two experiments, we tested the hypothesis that guilt feelings would elevate the probability of making a false confession. In Experiment 1 (N = 146), a confederate induced guilt feelings by asking participants to cheat on a task. The experimenter then falsely accused participants of having pressed...
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| Otros Autores: | ; ; ; ; |
| Tipo de documento: | Electrónico Artículo |
| Lenguaje: | Inglés |
| Publicado: |
2021
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| En: |
Psychology, crime & law
Año: 2021, Volumen: 27, Número: 3, Páginas: 265-281 |
| Acceso en línea: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
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| Verificar disponibilidad: | HBZ Gateway |
| Palabras clave: |
| Sumario: | In two experiments, we tested the hypothesis that guilt feelings would elevate the probability of making a false confession. In Experiment 1 (N = 146), a confederate induced guilt feelings by asking participants to cheat on a task. The experimenter then falsely accused participants of having pressed a forbidden key, causing a computer crash. In Experiment 2 (N = 108), a confederate was punished every time participants could not answer a quiz question. The confederate later cheated in a game and asked participants to take the blame. In Experiment 1, 100 participants (68.5%) falsely confessed to pressing the key. In Experiment 2, 39 participants (36.1%) falsely confessed to cheating. Guilt manipulations had no effect on false confession rates. When exploring the effect of guilt feelings, five of eight tests were statistically non-significant. As yet, there is insufficient evidence to argue that guilt feelings are a major determinant of false confessions. |
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| ISSN: | 1477-2744 |
| DOI: | 10.1080/1068316X.2020.1798427 |