Citation

Boon JCW, Baxter JS. Leg. Crim. Psychol. 2004; 9(2): 229-238.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2004, British Psychological Society, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1348/1355325041719400

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Objectives. Previous work has established that interviewer demeanour can distort interviewee performance on the Gudjonsson Suggestibility Scales (GSS). The present study assesses the effect of reducing interpersonal interaction in the GSS procedure. Interviewees' interrogative suggestibility (IS) scores obtained under four conditions were compared with established norms for the scales to identify the method most likely to reduce the effects of interpersonal factors when using the scales.Method. Participants were allocated at random to one of four conditions: (1) standard procedure but with questions in writing (Written Questions), (2) condition 1 procedure plus written answer (Written Questions: Written Answers), (3) condition 1 procedure but with written negative feedback (Written Questions: Written Feedback), and finally (4) condition 2 procedure but with written negative feedback (Written Questions: Written Answers: Written Feedback).Results. A key finding was that the procedure used in condition 4, in which verbal contact between interviewer and interviewee was least, produced GSS scores most closely approximating established norms for the GSS. GSS scores were higher in the other groups, although the differences between the GSS scores of conditions 4 and 2 were not significant.Conclusion. The findings suggest ways in which the effects of interviewer demeanour on IS may be reduced. The potential usefulness of adopting new procedures for administering the GSSs is discussed, as is the potential for developing a computerized format for the GSSs.

Language: en