Social influence in investigative interviews: The effects of authority on informational elements produced in interviews and written statements

This study examined the effect of a principle of social influence—authority—on the informational elements in an investigative interview. Community participants told the truth or lied about a mock crime in a high or low authority context. Informational elements were coded from their oral responses in the interviews and written responses in a statement prior to the interviews. Rapport was rated by the interviewers and participants. The authority condition produced effects on the informational elements in both the interviews and written statements but mainly for truth tellers. Rapport also had direct effects on the informational elements but authority did not affect rapport and rapport did not mediate the effect of authority on the informational elements. These findings had theoretical, empirical, and practical implications.     

The Role of Rapport in Investigative Interviewing: A Review

Rapport often appears in training and discussions regarding investigative interviewing, yet very little empirical research has examined rapport systematically in law enforcement or intelligence settings. Using a model of rapport developed from therapeutic settings, we address in this paper the components of rapport and their relevance to investigative interviewing. Rapport can play a facilitating role in supporting the goals of an investigative interview, to include developing a working alliance between interviewer and source, exercising social influence, and educing information from a source. A better understanding of how rapport develops in these contexts and its impact on interview outcomes would enhance the effectiveness of investigative interviewing. Research on rapport in the investigative interview would enhance our understanding of the interpersonal dynamics in these situations. We identify several gaps that such research should address, including the relationship between rapport and social influence and the development of rapport in multiparty interactions. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The effects of a teaching-modeling intervention on early mother-infant reciprocity

This study investigated the effects of a teaching and modeling intervention on the development of early reciprocity and maternal self-confidence between black low-income primiparous mothers and their newborn infants. The sample included 20 mothers who had an uneventful pregnancy, labor, delivery, and postpartum course. Infants were healthy, full-term, singleton, and bottle-fed. Mothers in the experimental group received a teaching session in which the investigator discussed and modeled caregiver behaviors which elicit interactive behaviors and skills of the infant. State control, response to stress, motoric processes, and interaction processes were discussed. On pretest, no significant differences were found between the control and experimental groups on any variable. At posttest, statistically significant differences were found between the two groups on assessment of the mother-infant sensitivity scale. No significant differences were found between the treatment and the control groups on the Mother's Assessment of the Behavior of her Infant (MABI) or the Self-Confidence scores.     

Social Constraint and Self‐Doubt: Mechanisms of Social Network influence on Resistance to Persuasion

Those around us have a profound influence on our political attitudes and attitude strength, such that people whose social networks include a variety of perspectives have weaker, less deeply entrenched attitudes than those who are surrounded by like‐minded others. In particular, those embedded in attitudinally heterogeneous networks are more open to changing their views. The nature and mechanisms of this network influence on openness to attitude change remain unclear. A survey experiment examines two mechanisms proposed by prior literature: (1) social doubt triggered by network members' dissent and (2) social constraint to maintain similar attitudes. It also provides some data on the more commonly assumed mechanism, (3) information exchange. Results strongly support social constraint and are mixed on social doubt. This contrasts with the theoretical emphasis of much previous interdisciplinary social network research, which has focused primarily on information exchange, to the detriment of other mechanisms. Findings also indicate that like‐minded social network members solidify attitudes at least as much as dissent erodes them, suggesting that prior emphasis on the influence of heterogeneous rather than attitudinally congruent networks is overstated. Implications for political movements are discussed.     

羞耻情绪对欺骗行为的影响：自我控制的作用

本文通过4个实验考察羞耻情绪对欺骗行为的影响, 并进一步探讨这一影响存在的条件及其机制。实验1考察羞耻情绪对欺骗的影响, 结果发现羞耻组的欺骗行为和欺骗倾向显著低于控制组。实验2将羞耻分为道德失范和能力不足两种情景, 考察羞耻对欺骗产生影响的条件, 结果发现, 道德失范羞耻组的欺骗行为显著低于能力不足羞耻组和控制组。实验3a考察道德失范所引发的羞耻对自我控制资源的影响, 结果发现, 羞耻情绪诱发组的自我控制任务成绩显著高于未诱发组。实验3b考察自我控制资源在羞耻情绪影响欺骗行为中的作用, 结果发现, 自我控制资源在羞耻情绪影响欺骗的过程中起完全中介作用。这些研究结果表明, 当个体的羞耻情绪由道德失范而诱发时, 会遏制其欺骗行为的产生; 羞耻情绪对欺骗行为的影响机制可能是: 感受到羞耻的个体, 为恢复和保护受损的道德自我, 通过调集更多自我控制资源的方法影响欺骗行为的出现。     

自我控制对欺骗的影响

自我控制是欺骗识别中一种重要的动机线索。但无论是在识别欺骗中, 自我控制扮演的动机线索角色, 还是在欺骗行为中, 自我控制扮演的监管机制的角色, 其认知机制和神经基础还不完全清楚。自我控制能力与自我控制资源对欺骗的影响也是不一样的, 而这些影响的神经基础也还没有完全破解。因此, 有必要结合行为、事件相关电位(ERP)及功能性磁共振(fMRI)等多种技术手段来考察识别欺骗和欺骗行为中自我控制能力和自我控制资源在欺骗中的作用及其心理机制。旨在探求在识别欺骗中是识别他人自我控制能力, 还是识别他人自我控制资源在起主要作用; 欺骗行为中是自我控制能力, 还是自我控制资源在起主要作用; 自我控制资源对欺骗行为的影响是符合能量耗竭观, 还是符合能量保存观。     

An experimental test of a game‐theoretical model of reciprocity

In this contribution the norm of reciprocity is defined as a basic internal motivation. Using formal tools of game theory, a model of social utility function is presented. The reciprocity model predicts that social actors should reciprocate costs and benefits they receive, even when there are costs in conforming to the norm. Hypotheses about actors' behavior, expectations and evaluations are derived from the model. The hypotheses were tested in an experimental situation, the reciprocity game, consisting of a prisoner's dilemma game (PD) followed by a dictator game (DG). The sample was composed of 74 Italian undergraduate students. In line with the model's predictions, the experimental results showed that participants reciprocate the behavior of the opponent in the PD. In the DG, if the opponent cooperated, participants gave back an almost equal share, whereas if the opponent defected, participants gave a minimal amount. These reciprocity effects are modulated by individual differences in the concern for reciprocity. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Social skills training: The moderating influence of culture in the treatment of Latinos with schizophrenia

Providing effective psychiatric rehabilitation to ethnic minority patients with serious persistent mental illness (SPMI) requires an understanding of the role of cultural values and ethnicity-relevant factors on the course and outcome of severe mental disorders. In this paper, the author identifies some of the cultural factors that are relevant for Latinos with SPMI, and describes how these factors were incorporated into existing rehabilitation modalities. The results of a pilot study designed to test the efficacy of culturally-modified social skills training are presented. The results suggest that the cultural modifications improved Latino patients' ability to learn the material and enhanced their use of these skills in their natural environments. Future research will be aimed at identifying and incorporating these salutary cultural forces into the rehabilitation process of the severely mentally ill.     

Social influence on predictions of simulated stock prices

Herding in financial markets refers to that investors are influenced by others. This study addresses the importance of consistency for herding. It is suggested that, in financial markets perceptions of consistency are based on repeated observations over time. Consistency may then be perceived as the agreement across time between investors' predictions. In addition, consistency may be related to variance over time in each investor's predictions. In an experiment using a Multiple Cue Probability Learning paradigm, 96 undergraduates made multi‐trial predictions of future stock prices given information about the current price and the predictions made by five fictitious others. Consistency was varied between the others' predictions (correlation) and within the others' predictions (variance). The results showed that the predictions were significantly influenced by the others' predictions when these were correlated. No effect of variance was observed. Hence, participants were influenced by the others when they were in agreement, regardless of whether they varied their predictions over trials or not. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Social influence and mental routes to the production of authentic false memories and inauthentic false memories

Two studies assessed the extent to which people incorporated false facts provided by bogus others into their own recognition memory reports, and how these false memory reports were affected by: (a) truth of the information in others’ summaries supporting the false facts, (b) motivation to process stories and summaries, (c) source credibility, and (d) ease of remembering original facts. False memory report frequency increased when false facts in a summary were supported by true information and varied inversely with the ease with which original facts could be remembered. Results from a measure probing participants’ memory perceptions suggest that some false memories are authentic: People sometimes lack awareness of both the incorporation of false facts into their memory reports and where the false facts came from. However, many false memories are inauthentic: Despite reporting a false memory, people sometimes retain knowledge of the original stimulus and/or the origin of false facts.     

The camera perspective bias: a case study

In this case study, we examined how variations of the camera perspective affect adults' assessment of veracity in a real‐life high‐stake situation; a masked male confessing to a very serious crime. The interview, conducted by one of Sweden's most awarded journalists, lasted 30 minutes and consisted of over 100 detailed questions about the crime. The interview was videotaped simultaneously by three cameras positioned at different locations, each taking a unique visual perspective. One camera focused on the suspect only, one on the interviewer only, and one equally on the suspect and the interviewer. Each videotape was shown to 32 adult observers (N = 96) who were asked to assess the suspect's veracity and to report subjective cues justifying their veracity assessment. The results confirmed the camera perspective bias, by showing that the observers in the ‘suspect only’ condition assessed the confession as significantly more reliable than did the observers in the ‘interviewer only’ condition. The observers reported that they relied heavily on verbal cues when assessing the confession, and particularly regarding confidence and consistency. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Direct reciprocity in animals: The roles of bonding and affective processes

The presence of direct reciprocity in animals is a debated topic, because, despite its evolutionary plausibility, it is believed to be uncommon. Some authors claim that stable reciprocal exchanges require sophisticated cognition which has acted as a constraint on its evolution across species. In contrast, a more recent trend of research has focused on the possibility that direct reciprocity occurs within long‐term bonds and relies on simple as well as more complex affective mechanisms such as emotional book‐keeping, rudimentary and higher forms of empathy, and inequity aversion, among others. First, we present evidence supporting the occurrence of long‐term reciprocity in the context of existing bonds in social birds and mammals. Second, we discuss the evidence for affective responses which, modulated by bonding, may underlie altruistic behaviours in different species. We conclude that the mechanisms that may underlie reciprocal exchanges are diverse, and that some act in interaction with bonding processes. From simple associative learning in social contexts, through emotional contagion and behavioural mimicry, to empathy and a sense of fairness, widespread and diverse social affective mechanisms may explain why direct reciprocity may not be a rare phenomenon among social vertebrates.     

The effects of social influence on children's memory reports: the omission and commission error asymmetry

Children in two age groups (7 vs. 12 yrs, N= 174) individually interacted with a stranger and were later interviewed about this event. Right before the interview, each child encountered the stranger once again and he engaged in a conversation where he either suggested that a (central or peripheral) detail originally present in the event had actually not been there or that an originally non-present (central or peripheral) detail had in fact been there. It was hypothesized that the two types of misinformation would result in omission and commission errors respectively. The results showed that the social influence resulted in an asymmetric effect (i.e., more commission than omission errors). Importantly, we also found that the children made more errors with respect to the peripheral detail (a suitcase), compared to the central detail (a passenger). Younger children did not make more errors (neither omission nor commission errors) than older children.     

Veracity is in the eye of the beholder: A lens model examination of consistency and deception

Research has attempted to explain perceived cues to deception based upon self-report of what participants believe are ‘good’ cues to deception, or self-report of what cues participants say they base their veracity judgements on. However, it is not clear to what extent participants can accurately self-report what influences their decision-making. Using a within-subjects design, 285 participants completed a questionnaire regarding their beliefs about deception before rating a selection of truthful and deceptive statements on a variety of cues. Expert coders also rated the statements for the same cues. Laypeople and expert coders do not conceptualise between-subject consistency in the same way. A lens model showed that whilst perceptions of cues, such as consistency and amount of detail, influence veracity judgements, these perceptions (and overall veracity judgements) are mostly inaccurate. Fundamentally, there seems to be inconsistencies between how deception research examines consistency and how it is understood and used by laypeople.     

The quality of children's allegations of abuse in investigative interviews containing practice narratives

To enhance the accuracy and completeness of children's testimony, recommendations have included implementing a practice narrative, during which children are prepared for their role as informative witnesses before discussing the allegations. In the present study, we aimed to systematically examine interviewer behaviour and the informativeness of children's testimony in a field setting. As predicted, interviewers posed fewer prompts, proportionally more open-ended prompts, and children provided proportionally more details in response to open-ended prompts in the substantive phase when preceded by a practice narrative than when no practice narrative was conducted. The relationship was enhanced when the practice narratives were conducted as recommended vs those that were conducted in a less open-ended manner. Together with experimental studies showing clear benefits of practice narratives on children's reports, these results underscore the value of a simple practice narrative as a means of enhancing the reliability of children's testimony.     

Social role effects on gender stereotyping in Germany and Japan

Social role theory postulates that gender stereotypes are restrained for men and women observed in the same social role. Cultural differences in the valuation of communal attributes might moderate this effect. To examine this possibility, 288 participants (144 German, 144 Japanese) estimated the communal and agentic attributes of an average man or woman described in a male‐dominated role, a female‐dominated role, or without role information. We hypothesized and found that in Germany and Japan, participants perceived men as more agentic than women without role information and as similarly agentic in the same role. However, for communion, German and Japanese participants reacted differently. German participants perceived women as more communal than men without role information and in male‐dominated roles and perceived men as more communal than women in female‐dominated roles. Japanese participants perceived all targets as similarly communal, regardless of role or gender, suggesting that communion is generally expected in Japan.     

Social influence in pigeons (Columba livia): the role of differential reinforcement

Socially-influenced learning was studied in observer pigeons that observed a demonstrator in an adjacent chamber performing a target response comprising standing on a box and pecking a key 10 times. In Experiment 1 there was no evidence for social learning in the absence of reinforcement of the observer's behavior. When the target response was already established in the observer's repertoire, but was not differentially reinforced in relation to the demonstrator's behavior, rates of extinction were not influenced by the demonstrator's behavior (Experiment 2). Reinforcement of the observer's target response in the presence of the modeled target response, and not in its absence, resulted in control of the observer's responding by the behavior of the demonstrator (Experiments 3 and 4). This control was extended in Experiment 5 to deferred responses that occurred following a delay since the demonstrator's target responses. The acquisition of social influence depended on differential reinforcement of the observer's target response, with the demonstrator's target behavior serving as the explicit discriminative stimulus.