Simulating Interrogation in the Lab: Examining the Effectiveness of Physical Pain, Coercive Verbal Pressure, and Rapport-Building for Obtaining Reliable Information

Abstract Three lab experiments used an interrogation simulation to examine the relative effectiveness of pain, coercive verbal pressure, and rapport-building for obtaining reliable information. Investigators questioned participants about information they were instructed to keep secret. We measured how many people gave reliable and unreliable information under pain (Study 1; N = 49), verbal pressure alone and in combination with pain (Study 2; N = 87), and verbal pressure and pain compared to a rapport-based interrogation (Study 3; N = 158). Results empirically support much of what field experts and scholars have previously claimed: pain and psychological coercion result in unreliable information.

• Publication year

  2021

• Venue

  Journal of Applied Security Research

• Publication date

  2021-07-22

• Fields of study

  Psychology

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1080/19361610.2021.1949954
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

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