Educing Information: Interrogation - National Intelligence University

purpose of benefit to the individual.” 124 Furthermore, in this context the common
motivation for all deception is avoidance of the consequences associated with
telling the truth. 125 The two types of consequences of being truthful are labeled
“real” and “personal.” 126 Real consequences generally involve financial penalties
or the loss of freedom or life, while personal consequences involve lowered
self-esteem and damaged integrity and reputation. 127 According to the model,
successful deception is reinforced in accordance with operant conditioning
principles whereby undetected lying is rewarding and increases the chances of
further lying. 128
However, successful socialization teaches individuals that it is wrong to
lie, which in many people brings about internal conflicts comprising feelings
of frustration and anxiety. 129 The model predicts that the increased levels of
anxiety associated with lying induce a person to confess. 130 The level of anxiety
is assumed to increase linearly from omission to evasion to blatant denial. 131
Jayne notes that subjects may try to reduce anxiety through body movements or
physical activities, which work by displacement or distraction. 132 Additionally,
the mind attempts to reduce anxiety through “a series of hypothetical constructs
called defense mechanisms,” which operate within the individual by distorting or
denying reality. 133 The two main defense mechanisms relevant to interrogation are
rationalization and projection. 134 Rationalization is the “act of redescribing what
a person does in such a way as to avoid any responsibility for the consequences
of his behavior.” 135 Through the second defense mechanism, projection, a subject
“shifts the blame for his own thoughts or actions onto another person, place, or
thing” (e.g., the victim, alcohol use, etc.). 136 Although, as noted, the defense
mechanisms of projection and rationalization function by distorting or denying
reality, this “does not mean that the individual loses touch with reality; reality has
merely been redefined.” 137
According to the Reid Model, a suspect confesses when the perceived
consequences of a confession are more desirable than the anxiety generated
by the deception. 138 The basic tenet of the model is that the interrogator can
psychologically manipulate both the perceived consequences of confessing
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