Self-reported emotional disturbance and its relation to electrodermal reactivity,defensiveness and trait anxiety

The discordance between an electrodermal and a subjective measure of disturbance was studied in 36 males. Electrodermal responses to emotionally loaded questions were recorded and subjects were requested to rate on visual analogue scales how disturbing they found the questions. The subjects were divided into three groups according to their ‘accuracy’ of self-perception and it was hypothesised that those who reported low subjective disturbance but reacted relatively strongly electrodermally (‘repressors’), would have a high defensiveness score but low trait anxiety. Conversely, subjects who amplify their disturbance (‘sensitisers’) were expected to have a low defensiveness score and high trait anxiety. The hypotheses were confirmed suggesting that both under and over reporting of subjective disturbance are related to defensiveness and trait anxiety. Another finding was that ‘sensitisers’ were significantly younger than ‘repressors’.     

Interrogative suggestibility,delayed memory and self-concept

This study investigates the relationship between interrogative suggestibility as measured by the Gudjonsson Suggestibility Scale (GSS) and variables related to memory recall and self-esteem. There were 30 Ss, tested twice 1 week apart. After completing the GSS they were required to fill in a number of Semantic Differential scales relating to the concepts: Myself as I am generally, Myself during the experiment and The experimenter. Ss were generally more suggestible during the second interview when their memory about the context of the interrogation context had deteriorated. The exception was that negative feedback appeared to have most effect on suggestibility and self-esteem the first time it was applied. Self-esteem related to ‘competence’ and ‘potency’ correlated significantly with suggestibility, especially during the first interrogative session. Perceptions of the experimenter were generally not found to be significantly related to suggestibility.     

The relationship of confabulation to the memory,intelligence, suggestibility and personality of prison inmates

This study investigates the relationship of confabulation to memory, intelligence, suggestibility and personality, as measured by the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire and the Gough Socialisation Scale. The subjects were 255 Icelandic prison inmates. Confabulation was measured from the memory narrative of the Gudjonsson Suggestibility Scale (GSS 1). The two components of confabulation—distortions and fabrications—were scored and analysed separately. Distortions and fabrications correlated poorly with each other. Furthermore, the confabulation scores correlated very poorly with the other psychological variables. The only positive correlations were a positive relationship with GSS Shift and a negative relationship with intelligence.     

Police interviewing and psychological vulnerabilities: predicting the likelihood of a confession

This paper is concerned with examining the differences between people who confess and those who deny offences during a police interview. The main hypothesis under investigation is that psychologically vulnerable suspects are particularly likely to confess. This paper is also concerned with identifying variables that might be related to the confession process. One hundred and sixty suspects detained at two London police stations were assessed psychologically prior to being interviewed by the police. The results of this assessment, an analysis of the interview procedure and biographic details were subjected to a logistic regression analysis. There was no evidence to support our main hypothesis. However, suspects were more likely to confess if they reported having consumed an illicit (non-prescribed) drug in the previous 24-hour period, and less likely to confess when interviewed in the presence of a legal adviser or if they had experience of prison or custodial remand. In this study younger suspects were also more likely to confess. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Fear of ‘failure’ and ‘tissue damage’ in police recruits,constables, sergeants and senior officers

This study investigates the effects of occupational experiences on the pattern of fears among groups of British male police officers. Two categories of fears were studied: (1) fear of failure and negative evaluation; (2) fear of tissue damage and bodily harm. The former was expected to increase with police experience and seniority, whereas the latter should decrease due to greater exposure in vivo and limited opportunities for avoidance behaviour. The Ss comprised 72 police recruits, 62 constables, 30 sergeants and 93 senior officers. The hypotheses were confirmed, suggesting clear group differences among police officers in the pattern of fears which was related to police experience and seniority. The Fear scores were found to correlate significantly with neuroticism as measured by the EPQ.     

A new scale of interrogative suggestibility

This paper describes the construction of the Gudjonsson Suggestibility Scale (GSS), its rationale and scoring. The scale is quick to administer and contains a sufficiently large range of possible scores to be of practical value with different groups of Ss and individuals. It can be used either as a clinical tool to measure individual susceptibility to suggestion or as a research instrument for obtaining greater understanding of the nature and mechanisms of interrogative suggestibility. Principal-component (rotated) analyses were performed on the scale's item scores. Two types of suggestibility emerged: (i) the extent to which Ss yield to suggestive questions; (ii) the extent to which Ss can be made to shift their replies once interpersonal pressure has been applied. Each aspect of the scale contains 15 items which comprise reasonably homogeneous measures with satisfactory internal-consistency reliabilities. The validity of the scale has been demonstrated in several recent experiments.     

The aggressive behaviour of personality disordered patients and its relation to personality and perceptual motor performance

The present study investigates the relationship between the frequency of aggressive behaviour of patients in a therapeutic community and socialization, extraversion and perceptual-motor rule-breaking. The subjects were 33 males and 24 females who had been rated by two observers in regard to frequency of aggressive behaviour during the initial part of their stay in the community. Principal component analysis revealed two fairly pure factors, referred to as verbal and physical aggression. In females both factors correlated significantly with extraversion, lack of role-taking ability and perceptual-motor rule-breaking. No significant correlations were obtained in the male sample except that physical aggression correlated positively with perceptual-motor rule-breaking.     

Some psychological determinants of electrodermal responses to deception

This study explores some of the psychological determinants of electrodermal responses to deception. There were four groups of 24 subjects, consisting of normal males and females, and personality-disordered males and females. The deceptive paradigms used consisted of three guilty knowledge card tasks that differed in the nature of the stimuli used and in procedural instructions. There was also a general question task involving five neutral questions and two emotive moral questions. After each task self-report analogue scales were administered in order to record the subjects' reactions to each task and the type of countermeasure they had used. The subjects also completed the Eysenck Personality Inventory, the Gough Socialization Scale and the Arrow-Dot test. Detectability on card tasks was found to relate to the following: procedural instructions, countermeasure strategies, involvement in the task, the extent to which the critical items are processed into memory, and lack of confidence in one's ability to beat the machine. Personality factors of Introversion, Neuroticism and Ego control had some significant correlations with differential responsivity but this was not consistent across subject samples or tasks. Differential responsivity to questions raising moral issues did not relate significantly to whether or not the subject admitted or denied such behaviour.