The Social Psychology of Minority Influence.Gabriel Mugny , Juan A. Pérez , Vivian Waltz Lamongie
American Journal of Sociology, Sep 1, 1992
The Social Psychology of Police Interrogation: The Theory and Classification of True and False Confessions
Social Science Research Network, Jun 10, 2008
This article (1) develops a social psychological decision-making model that describes the methods... more This article (1) develops a social psychological decision-making model that describes the methods of influence through which interrogation proceeds and identifies the factors leading the guilty and the innocent to decide to confess; (2) Specifies the sequence and effects of the tactical moves through which interrogators influence suspects decisions; (3) Describes the variety of types of confessions and their differentiating characteristics; and (4) Develops and illustrates through case materials of a classification system for categorizing types of statements made in response to interrogation. Together, the decision-making model and the expanded classification system provide a framework for explaining the process of police interrogation as it is practiced in the United States.
Social Choice and Utility in Coalition Formation
Sociometry, Sep 1, 1969
The Process of Status Evolution
Sociometry, Sep 1, 1970
In this paper the development of status structures in task-oriented discussion groups is consider... more In this paper the development of status structures in task-oriented discussion groups is considered. It is shown that the generally accepted belief about the process through which such groups arrive at status differentiation is incorrect and that groups attain status differentiation through at least two distinct paths. Certain gross performance differences between the behaviors of members of groups which arrive at status differentiation through alternative paths are reported. In addition, differences between members of the two types of groups are found in the degree of differentiation in participation among group members at the close of the discussion session, in the extent to which group members recognize differential contributions by members of their groups in the areas of guidance, ideas and ability at the task, and in certain aspects of the qualitative performances of group members.
The Decision to Confess Falsely: Rational Choice and Irrational Action
Social Science Research Network, May 19, 2008
Using empirical evidence from police interrogations in a few national and international jurisdict... more Using empirical evidence from police interrogations in a few national and international jurisdictions, this article studies the dynamics of confessions in the American criminal justice system. The article documents the process of interrogation and explains why police-induced false confessions, like truthful ones, are rational responses to the influence tactics and manipulation strategies that American police use during interrogation. The article argues that false confessions occur when interrogation tactics are not understood and are misused by law enforcement, most often due to negligence or improper training. Finally, the article discusses how to better identify false confessions and decrease the miscarriages of justice caused by them.
The Truth About False Confessions and Advocacy Scholarship
Social Science Research Network, Jun 10, 2008
... VI. Appendix: The Remaining Eight Cases (1) Joseph Giarratano (2) Paul Ingram (3) Richard Lap... more ... VI. Appendix: The Remaining Eight Cases (1) Joseph Giarratano (2) Paul Ingram (3) Richard Lapointe (4) Jessie Misskelley (5) Bradley Page (6) James Harry Reyos (7) Linda Stangel (8) Martin Tankle ... 907 (1998); Edward Humes, MEAN JUSTICE; and Barry Scheck et. ...
Coerced confessions: The logic of seemingly irrational action
... Citation. Database: PsycINFO. [Journal Article]. Coerced confessions: The logic of seemingly ... more ... Citation. Database: PsycINFO. [Journal Article]. Coerced confessions: The logic of seemingly irrational action. Ofshe, Richard. Cultic Studies Journal. ... Abstract. Reports 4 instances in which false confessions to criminal acts were elicited from innocent individuals. ...
Because a confession is universally treated as damning and compelling evidence of guilt, 1 , it i... more Because a confession is universally treated as damning and compelling evidence of guilt, 1 , it is likely to dominate all other case evidence and lead a trier of fact to convict the defendant. 2 A false confession is therefore an exceptionally dangerous piece of evidence to put before anyone adjudicating a case. In a criminal justice system whose formal rules are designed to minimize the frequency of unwarranted arrest, unjustified prosecution, and wrongful conviction, police-induced false confessions rank amongst the most fateful of all official errors.. We thank Robert Perske and Michael L. Radelet for providing case materials, and we thank David T.Johnson, Gary Marx and Welsh White for helpful comments. .
The effectiveness of pacifist strategies: a theoretical approach
Journal of Conflict Resolution, Jun 1, 1971
The question of the power of pacifist behavior to produce cooperative responses in conflict situa... more The question of the power of pacifist behavior to produce cooperative responses in conflict situations has recently been raised by several researchers (Lave, 1965; Shure, Meeker, and Hansford, 1965; Deutsch et al., 1967; Meeker and Shure, 1969; and Vincent and Tindell, 1969) and has been the subject of a number of comments (Rapoport, Shubik, and Thrall, 1965; and Rapoport, 1969). The researches that have been reported to date are best described as exploratory in nature. The majority of the investigations have been directed toward the development of a standardized experimental situation and the empirical exploration of a number of possible relationships.2 Although the experiments demonstrate that it is possible to investigate
Inadvertent Hypnosis During Interrogation: False Confession Due to Dissociative State; Mis-Identified Multiple Personality and the Satanic Cult Hypothesis
International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, Jul 1, 1992
Induction of a dissociative state followed by suggestion during interrogation caused a suspect to... more Induction of a dissociative state followed by suggestion during interrogation caused a suspect to develop pseudo-memories of raping his daughters and of participation in a baby-murdering Satanic cult. The pseudo-memories coupled with influence from authority figures convinced him of his guilt for 6 months. During this time, the suspect, the witnesses, and all the evidence in the case were studied. No evidence supported an inference of guilt and substantial evidence supported the conclusion that no crime had been committed. An experiment demonstrated the suspect's extreme suggestibility. The conclusion reached was that the cult did not exist and the suspect's confessions were coerced-internalized false confessions. During the investigation, 2 psychologists diagnosed the suspect as suffering from a dissociative disorder similar to multiple personality. Both psychologists were predisposed to find Satanic cult activity. Each concluded that the disorder was due to "programming" by the non-existent Satanic cult.
Testing a Measurement Model
Sociological Methodology, 1969
In order for a scaling model to be considered valid for application in the behavioral sciences it... more In order for a scaling model to be considered valid for application in the behavioral sciences it must be derived from a substantively meaningful theory of the capabilities and response processes of actors. For example, a model that results in a nominal scale assumes only that the respondents have the ability to discriminate the presence or absence of some attribute in objects, while for an ordinal scale the respondents must be assumed to be able to distinguish two or more magnitudes of a single attribute. For each level of measurement different assumptions
What Are We to Make of All This?" Reply to Berger and Zelditch
Social Psychology Quarterly, Mar 1, 1983
We are reminded of scenes in films from the past, those in which a form oozes out of a vat bubbli... more We are reminded of scenes in films from the past, those in which a form oozes out of a vat bubbling away in a laboratory. The thing proceeds to eat Brooklyn. It appears unstopable as it incorporates all it touches, unphased by missiles hurled at it. Smiling, it burps and slithers along. In the end the creature triumphs by consuming the planet. Nevertheless the film ends happily, since in its final consummatory act, the creature takes the form of the world it ate and all is as it was in the beginning. "So it goes." The fantasy-sparking comment offered by Professors Berger and Zelditch, for all of its rhetorical elegance, iaises only minor and tangential points. We are accused of designing a faulty experiment for several reasons. According to Berger and Zelditch, we did not associate certain cues with the occupational status variable but rather made them part of the demeanor set. Supposedly, this resulted in suppressing the status variable while enhancing the behavioral variables. Also, the experiment suffered from a nonequivalence of cues. One might infer from the existence of the Berger and Zelditch comment that the operating rule for judging whether a particular variable is, in reality, a status variable, is whether or not it correlates positively with influence. If it does, "Why, by George that proves it, it must be a status variable!" And so, the theory absorbs it, smiles, burps and moves along. We have already noted that expectation states research seems to proceed as if "predicated on the belief that the basic answer to the problem was known at the time the research work commenced" and subsequent work was "dedicated to the elaboration of the basic expectation states assumptions rather than to their testing." (Lee and Ofshe. 1981). Given what we assume to be the working bias involved-in expectation states research, one can understand the difficulty the creators have in under-
Empathy, Communication Efficiency, and Marital Status
Journal of Marriage and Family, Nov 1, 1968
A Comparative Study of Two Scaling Models: Paired Comparisons and Scalogram Analysis
Sociometry, Dec 1, 1970
This paper reports the results of a study in which the same set of attitude statements were scale... more This paper reports the results of a study in which the same set of attitude statements were scaled with paired comparisons and scalogram procedures. Theoretically, the two models should produce identical rank orders for the statements. The data from four independent samples of respondents were scaled using both models. The resulting paired comparisons and scalogram estimates of the rank orders of the statements correlate with values of - .24,
Using the Innocent to Scapegoat Miranda: Another Reply to Paul Cassell
Social Science Research Network, May 18, 2008
The Light on Synanon: How a country weekly exposed a corporate cult--and won the Pulitzer Prize
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