Work

Adults' difficulties in identifying concealment among children interviewed with the putative confession instructions

Year: 2020

Type: article

Abstract: Summary The putative confession (PC) instructions (“[suspect] told me everything that happened and wants you to tell the truth”) increases children's honesty. However, research has shown that children who maintain secrecy despite the PC are more convincing. We examined whether (a) the PC undermines adults' deception detection abilities or (b) children who conceal despite the PC are better deceivers. Adults evaluated truthful and deceptive children interviewed with the PC where the PC portion of the interview was either present or absent. Adults' deception detection was no worse when the PC was present; in fact, it was slightly better. Rather than negatively affecting adults' ability to detect deception, the PC selects an unusually convincing group of concealers.

Source: Applied Cognitive Psychology

DOI: 10.1002/acp.3729

Authors: Jennifer Gongola, Jodi A. Quas, Steven E. Clark, Thomas D. Lyon

Institutions: University of Southern California, University of California, Irvine, University of California, Riverside

Language: English

Topic: Deception detection and forensic psychology

Subfield: Social Psychology

Field: Psychology

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Peace, justice, and strong institutions

Open Access status: green

Funder: Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development