A series of experimental studies addressing the challenge of increasing the willingness of interviewees and informants to share reliable information with law enforcement and security/intelligence agencies by testing the impact of minimal social exclusion in pre-interview/pre-debrief procedures. The intervention is based on the well-established finding that even a short period of being or feeling ostracised makes an individual more eager to work with others.
The project will include the following elements:
- Literature review
- Experiment 1, testing participants’ inclination to share information that it is in their interests to keep hidden with or without a social exclusion manipulation
- Experiment 2, as Experiment 1 but with a terrorism-relevant scenario
Research questions
- Does a brief episode of social rejection increase individuals’ proclivity to share sensitive information in an interview setting?
Outputs
Eliciting Human Intelligence: The Effects of Social Exclusion and Inclusion on Information Disclosure
Eliciting information from semicooperative sources presents a major challenge in investigative and intelligence settings. This research examines the role of the human need to...Read More »Masterclass in eliciting intelligence information
CREST Researchers delivered a masterclass on intelligence interviewing to over fifty practitioners from European government, police and military organisations. The day covered new techniques...Read More »Principal investigator
Professor Pär Anders Granhag
Institution
University of Gothenburg, UK