Doctoral Dissertation Research: Guilty Stereotypes: The Social Psychology of Race and Suspicion in Police Interrogations

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Prior research notes that police officers often rely on nonverbal behavior, such as gaze aversion and fidgeting, to detect deception. These behaviors, however, have been shown in studies to not be reliable indicators of deception. Rather, they are indicators of anxiety. Other than guilt, there are many reasons why a suspect may be nervous when talking to the police. One often overlooked reason is the race of the subject since prior research shows that being stereotyped is an anxiety provoking process. The current project uses three studies to test the present police reliance on cues to anxiety when assessing the credibility of a suspect.This line of research seeks to expand the research on the role of race in interviewing and interrogation. As such, the results will inform practitioners in the legal system.