If you're an employer, you need to watch out for your own instincts, which could lead you to assume an innocent person has done something wrong. And, importantly, you should use this information to temper your own reactions if you're ever falsely accused yourself. In a study titled " Anger Damns the Innocent ," researchers from Harvard Business School and the University of Toronto conducted six studies to determine how people react to being falsely accused, and how those reactions affect others' perceptions of their guilt or innocence.
The easy task, which most participants got right, was to capitalize the first and last letters of every paragraph in the text. The difficult task, which most got wrong, was to find and remove every adverb in the text.
For most of those who'd done the easy task, this was a false accusation, whereas it was basically true for those who'd had to do the hard task. Those who were falsely accused reported feeling angrier, and to claim they were being unfairly assessed. I think even without a study, most of us would recognize this as a normal human reaction--when we are accused of something we didn't do, we get really peeved.
I still remember the hissy fit I pitched in my veterinarian's office when I was accused of--and billed for--being a no-show at an appointment I had actually rescheduled. But here's the problem. While getting ticked off is a normal human reaction to a false accusation, it will make others believe you are guilty. The researchers tested this across four studies. In the first three, participants watched clips from a television show called Judge Faith , or read a description of a courtroom proceeding, or an account of a man accused of cheating on his girlfriend, or a man accused of stealing from his employer.
In each case, they got to see or read about the accused person's reaction. Every time, participants judged those who reacted angrily as being guiltier than those who reacted with calm.
The only people who seemed guiltier to these subjects were those who pleaded the fifth in court and refused to say anything at all. Then they performed a similar experiment on professionals whose jobs ought to give them some insight into guilt and innocence--law enforcement professionals, fraud investigators, lawyers, and similar professions. Even they thought those who reacted with anger--and those who refused to answer questions at all--were likely to be guilty.
They thought those who reacted calmly were most likely to be innocent. So, we're left to ask this perplexing question: Why do innocent people confess to crimes they didn't commit? Related: Do guns deter crime? The key to understanding why someone confessed is often buried in the interrogation process, he said. Often, these confessions come after hours of relentless interrogation, Kassin said. Take Bob Adams, a Syracuse man who was freed from jail in January after spending eight months in prison for a homicide he falsely confessed to.
A recording of the interrogation showed Adams was asked the same questions for hours while he was intoxicated, according to the Syracuse Post-Standard who first covered the story. Police claimed to have evidence against Adams that didn't exist — a legal, but controversial tactic, according to Kassin.
Eventually, Adams confessed and was held in prison awaiting trial until an eyewitness confirmed he wasn't guilty.
Innocent people, like Adams, often go into the interrogation thinking that they had nothing to worry about, no reason to call a lawyer, Kassin said. They're blind-sided by assertions that they're guilty and the evidence police claim to have against them. The confession comes, often, when the suspect feels trapped, like they have no way out.
They forget about their "right to remain silent. In other cases, people might confess just to get out of the interrogation room, thinking that they'll easily be cleared later once more facts come to light, Kassin told Science magazine. People from all walks of life falsely confess, but young people and those with mental disabilities are the most vulnerable, according to the National Registry of Exonerations.
Moreover, people who are stressed, tired or traumatized while talking with police are more likely to give false confessions, Kassin told Science magazine.
That said, innocent people typically can't put together a false confession on their own, said Kassin, who's spent his year career studying false confessions. A confession is more than just a simple, "I did it.
But it's not surprising. They show photographs. They take them to the scene of the crime. Interrogators may know how to produce a good confession, but they aren't the only ones at fault. Once someone has admitted to a crime in rich detail, nearly everyone believes it, including forensic scientists. Once a confession is made, it sets in motion a forensic confirmation bias, a study in the Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition suggested.
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