Interrogations-and-Confessions-Handbook

388 A Psychology of Interrogations and Confessions
Wolfradt and Meyer (1998) used a German translation of the GSS 2 to test
differences in suggestibility between 37 psychiatric patients suffering from anxiety
disorders and 45 normal controls. Highly significant differences were found
between the two groups on Yield 1, Shift and Total Suggestibility (no data were
reported for Yield 2), with the patients being significantly more suggestible
than the normal controls. The differences were more marked for Shift than
Yield 1. These findings were in spite of there being no significant differences
between the groups with regard to memory recall. The findings suggest that
anxiety rather than memory process mediated the differences in suggestibility
between the groups. Both groups had also completed the STAI and the patients
were significantly more anxious than the normal controls. Interestingly, the
state and trait anxiety scores did not correlate significantly with suggestibility
for the two groups analysed separately, but did so when the two groups were
combined. The authors confirmed the findings of Gudjonsson, Rutter and Clare
(1995) that suggestibility cannot always be easily judged from self-reported
anxiety scores such as those measured by the STAI.
The findings of Smith and Gudjonsson (1995a), using a forensic inpatient
population, also highlight the potential problems with using the STAI reliably
with certain populations. The authors found that state anxiety did not
correlate with the suggestibility scores when administered immediately after
GSS interrogative procedure, but it did correlate significantly with Yield 2,
Shift and Total Suggestibility when the STAI was administered at one week
follow-up.
One of the reasons for the apparent problems with using the STAI in the
studies of Gudjonsson, Rutter and Clare (1995), Smith and Gudjonsson (1995a)
and Wolfradt and Meyer (1998) could be that in all three studies the STAI was
administered after immediate recall, but before the interrogation questions
and negative feedback were administered. This may be significant in relation
to state anxiety, because it is the anxiety that is generated by the interrogation
that is of crucial importance. How anxious they felt prior to the interrogation
may be less important. This is supported by the findings of Gudjonsson (1988a),
where state anxiety was measured both before and after the interrogation.
When state anxiety was rated in relation to how the subjects had felt during
the interrogation, as opposed to how they had felt before, all the correlations
become much more significant.
SUGGESTIBILITY AND IMPULSIVITY
One study has investigated the relationship between suggestibility and impulsivity.
Gudjonsson (1984d) administered the GSS 1 and the Arrow-Dot Test
(Dombrose & Slobin, 1958) to 50 normal subjects. None of the correlations were
significant for Yield 1, but Shift correlated significantly with Id (impulsivity)
and negatively with Ego strength. The correlations were 0.30 and −0.37 ( p <
0.05), respectively. The findings suggest that impulsivity and poor ego control
are associated with a tendency to give in to interrogative pressure.