The Truth about False Confessions
Description:... One of the few experimental studies to focus upon variables which might play a role in police interrogation is Bem's "false confession" research. He showed that subjects come to believe that their false statements are true when emitted in the presence of a discriminative truth stimulus. In an attempted replication, the present study found evidence to support an alternative explanation of this finding, based upon decreased vigilance induced by the truth stimulus. In contrast, the lie stimulus was shown to promote more cautious responding as evidenced by better recall, greater confidence, slower reaction time, and a different pattern of physiological responsivity.
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