This is a research project that focuses on the validity of confessions. This is done by carrying out an experiment where college students are forced to confess that they cheated to avoid worse implications. It shows how innocent people can be coerced into signing confessions through bluffing. Lies are told of imaginary evidence which then elicits a sense of fear. The confession creates false hope. The sample group was made up of 60 students who were picked from an initial group of 72 after which each member was indiscriminately identified and assigned to one of the four cells. They were then 'picked' for a social intelligence research where they were obliged to fill in alternating sets of questionnaires with ten questions each.
The categories were set based on a popular game show with four content areas. They were warned against collaboration with others on individual quizzes to avoid being penalized. However, the confederate tried to engage the participants while bringing them the questionnaires for each set or category. This was to induce cheating or guilt or display innocence in the participants. Later on, during the administration of yet another set of questionnaires, the experimenter calls out one of the participants randomly.
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The examiner questions the participant on the probability of them cheating. In the bluff setting, the examiner shows prove of a hidden camera which he says he controls. He offers to make the consequences or trouble disappear if the participant will sign a confession that the confederate has handwritten. This is regardless of innocence or guilt. In the control group, no proof or evidence is offered. The participant could then either sign the confession or refuse to sign it. The participant is then returned to the examination room to proceed under the eye of the confederate.
