Interrogative suggestibility and delinquent boys: An empirical validation study

This study has several aims. First, to validate the Gudjonsson Suggestibility Scale (GSS) among delinquent and adolescent boys placed in an assessment and short-term treatment centre. Second, to test the hypothesis that adolescent boys are particularly susceptible to suggestions when they are ‘pressured’ by negative feedback and instructions. Finally, to investigate the hypothesis that suggestibility is related to memory recall and self-esteem. The GSS was administered to 31 boys (ages 11 to 16 yr) who had been independently rated by two teachers on measures of suggestibility and self-esteem. Suggestibility as measured by the GSS was found to correlate significantly with the teachers' ratings of suggestibility, supporting empirically the criterion-related validity of the GSS. Compared with young ‘normal’ adults the boys were no more likely to give in to suggestive questions than the adults, unless their performance was subjected to criticism and negative feedback. The results suggest that deliquent adolescents may be particularly responsive to interpersonal pressure during interrogation. The findings have important implications for police interrogation procedures.     

KNOWING BEFORE DOING: DISCRIMINATION BY RATS OF A BRIEF INTERRUPTION OF A TONE

Eight rats' lever presses were reinforced after an interruption in a tone, provided the lever had not been pressed before the tone interruption. After a few sessions, long before the animals reliably refrained from lever pressing before the interruption, the latencies of postinterruption presses (time from the termination of the interruption to the moment of the lever press) dissociated into two classes: short ones for to-be-rewarded presses, and long ones for presses in the other trials, which contained no reward because one or more lever presses had occurred before the interruption. Thus discrimination of impending reinforcement in the current trial occurred before there was evidence of sensitivity to reinforcement in the reinforcement-producing aspect of behavior. This finding is related to Shimp's (1981) contention that the temporal properties of recent behavior are reinforceable, if remembered. The present finding shows that learning to discriminate whether one's behavior has met a contingency, and learning to carry out this behavior, need not go together, implying that memory of temporal properties is probably a necessary but not a sufficient condition for learning the latter.     

ON THE SIGN OF SLOPE IN THE LEARNING OF LINEAR FUNCTIONS

Three groups of subjects were presented with pairs of values ( E and S ) of three different linear functions E = a+bS. In a test phase they had to indicate the E -values that corresponded to the S -values. The values were represented as distances marked on straight lines. Two groups, one a control group, had a positive slope, the third group a negative. The squared sum of the S-E differences was kept constant. All groups had roughly the same performance as measured by the squared sum of deviations from empirical and correct E -values. The learning curves indicated, however, that some learning had taken place in the group with the negative slope. It was concluded that a principle rather than a function was learned.     

HOW PROTHETIC IS THE CONTINUUM OF SMELL?: A further comment on the relation between magnitude and category scales

The relation K =αlog( ψ + q / k ) +β between category scale K and magnitude scale ψ found in previous experiments on loudness and softness of white noise was confirmed for smell data, too. The small increase in variability (SDs) of judgments with magnitude for smell as compared with loudness and softness suggests the substitution of the prothetic-metathetic dichotomy with a quantifiable feature, protheticness, with metathetic continua as the limiting case.     

ON THE PROBLEM OF CATEGORY SCALES IN PSYCHOPHYSICS

E isler , H. On the problem of category scales in psychophysics. Scand. J. Psychol ., 1962, 3 , 81–87.—In the first Part of the paper it is shown that, if three assumptions are granted, the category scale must be logarithmically related to the magnitude scale: K =α log φ +β . In the second part of the paper, the relation K =α log ( kφ+ q) +β is derived, starting from the assumptions that the category scale is a pure function of discrimination and that discrimination is appropriately described by the linear generalization of Weber's law for prothetic continua. We can reconcile these two formulas by defining the zero-point of the magnitude scale as the point where variability vanishes.     

SIMILARITY IN THE CONTINUUM OF HEAVINESS WITH SOME METHODOLOGICAL AND THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS

An experiment in which the subjects estimated (a) the ratio and (b) the similarity of pairs of stimuli, consisting of weights, is reported. The report reveals that the relation obtained in earlier investigations between estimated similarity and the two subjective magnitudes of the pair, holds good for the continuum of heaviness too. In connection with this the intraindividual standard deviation of ratio estimates and the problem of internal consistency of a ratio matrix are treated. In a speculative discussion the concept of similarity is scrutinized, the similarity function is tentatively extended to multi-dimensional cases and an attempt is made to connect similarity and discrimination learning.     

Confession evidence,psychological vulnerability and expert testimony

There have been major changes in English Law with regard to confession evidence, which followed the implementation of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act (PACE) in January 1986. This paper reviews the main legal changes that are relevant to the admissibility and reliability of confessions and their psychological importance within the context of both research and expert testimony.     

Personality patterns of British police officers

This study investigates personality patterns in four different British police groups. The subjects comprised: (i) 84 police recruits; (ii) 84 probationary constables; (iii) 73 experienced constables; and (iv) 112 officers of senior rank. Of particular interest were personality traits measured by the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ) and the Eysencks' I5. The former measures Psychoticism (P), Extraversion (E) and Neuroticism (N), whereas the latter monitors Impulsiveness (Imp), Venturesomeness (Vent) and Empathy (Emp). All groups tended to be low on P, but whereas the recruits were highly extraverted, venturesome and impulsive, the remaining groups were more reserved, controlled and exhibited fewer empathetic responses. The findings are discussed in terms of ‘wastage’ and occupational socialization.