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I have read that good interrogators will do that without torture. They will check the information they are getting against facts that can be checked. From what

I have read that good interrogators will do that without torture. They will check the information they are getting against facts that can be checked. From what I have read about innocent people that got convicted most of these convictions relied on “evidence” where nobody made the effort to sanity check the information and see if it really makes sense.

simonh 7y ago
Also check for the consistency of the person's story. Lying is stressful and you have to remember details you have invented and that don't match your own memory. This is difficult to keep straight, especially over an extended period.
- itronitron 7y ago
  Memory is malleable and false memories can be created in people's minds even when they know it is happening. If the police are showing pictures and telling a narrative then that will eventually be adopted as the person's memory.
  - barrkel 7y ago
    That's exactly right and I don't know why people would downvote it unless they've never had it happen to them. I remember having a quite nasty accident as a kid, but actually it happened to my friend, and I only found out many years later when recounting it. I've had some similar episodes while drunk, but not as extreme as that one.
    - sharkweek 7y ago
      I have a memory as a young kid watching a spaceship launch in person. I even told my first grade class about it during show and tell time or something. I remember this because the teacher corrected me, suggesting maybe I watched something on TV (probably true). I live in the PNW and have never been near a spaceship launch but to this day it feels kind of like a real memory. It seems that over time it’s pretty easy to write false memories into our real memories.
- rzzzt 7y ago
  Psychological questionnaires also make use of this: turn a page or two, and you might find the same question get asked a second time.
- rcxdude 7y ago
  While true, people also make honest mistakes. While this is a very different context, I have played a lot of mafia (AKA werewolves) online, and often the liars are the ones who have gone to great lengths to make sure their story checks out. Innocents are often more likely to be accidentaly inconsistent, because they are not trying to keep their story straight.
jasonhansel 7y ago
I wonder if this is part of why police officers (on podcasts etc.) often decline to discuss details of, say, unsolved crime scenes. They need to make sure that some arbitrary details aren't made public, so that they can later prove a confession is real.

simonh 7y ago

Also check for the consistency of the person's story. Lying is stressful and you have to remember details you have invented and that don't match your own memory. This is difficult to keep straight, especially over an extended period.

itronitron 7y ago
Memory is malleable and false memories can be created in people's minds even when they know it is happening. If the police are showing pictures and telling a narrative then that will eventually be adopted as the person's memory.
- barrkel 7y ago
  That's exactly right and I don't know why people would downvote it unless they've never had it happen to them. I remember having a quite nasty accident as a kid, but actually it happened to my friend, and I only found out many years later when recounting it. I've had some similar episodes while drunk, but not as extreme as that one.
  - sharkweek 7y ago
    I have a memory as a young kid watching a spaceship launch in person. I even told my first grade class about it during show and tell time or something. I remember this because the teacher corrected me, suggesting maybe I watched something on TV (probably true). I live in the PNW and have never been near a spaceship launch but to this day it feels kind of like a real memory. It seems that over time it’s pretty easy to write false memories into our real memories.
rzzzt 7y ago
Psychological questionnaires also make use of this: turn a page or two, and you might find the same question get asked a second time.
rcxdude 7y ago
While true, people also make honest mistakes. While this is a very different context, I have played a lot of mafia (AKA werewolves) online, and often the liars are the ones who have gone to great lengths to make sure their story checks out. Innocents are often more likely to be accidentaly inconsistent, because they are not trying to keep their story straight.

jasonhansel 7y ago

I wonder if this is part of why police officers (on podcasts etc.) often decline to discuss details of, say, unsolved crime scenes. They need to make sure that some arbitrary details aren't made public, so that they can later prove a confession is real.