Derren Brown: The Experiments S01E03 - The Guilt Trip

Title..............: Derren Brown: The Experiments
Aired On Channel...: Channel 4
Airing Date........: 03/11/2011
Source.............: PDTV
Resolution.........: 624 x 352
Aspect Ratio.......: WS 1.773
Framerate..........: 25 FPS
Video Codec........: XviD
Audio..............: MP3 @ 128kbps VBR 48KHz
Size...............: 550 MB
Link...............: http://www.tvrage.com/shows/id-29800

FALSE CONFESSIONS

The Innocence Project in the USA estimate that in 25% of all cases overturned by DNA evidence innocent defendants had made "incriminating statements, delivered outright confessions or pled guilty."

One measure of a suspect's resistance to coercive interrogation is the Gudjonsson Suggestibility Scale. It was created by Professor Gísli Guðjónsson of the Institute of Psychiatry, Kings College, London. The test involves the subject being questioned about a narrative text that has been read to him. Later he is asked further questions, some of which might be leading or contain incorrect information. His responses are used to gauge whether the subject is easily led or suggestible and liable to make a false confession.

MEMORY DISTRUST SYNDROME

Memory Distrust Syndrome can play a part in someone making a false confession. The subject is heavily influenced by information told to him by third parties and is unable to distinguish real events from those that are imaginary or suggested. The fluid and changing nature of memory has been proven many times in psychological experiments the most striking of which is known to psychologists as "Lost in the Mall."

Lost in the Mall was developed by psychologist Elizabeth Loftus, one of the leading researchers in false memory syndrome. The aim of the experiment is to create a memory in the mind of the subject of an event that never took place, in this case a childhood memory of being lost in a shopping mall. To do this family and friends conspire to convince the subject that the event took place by writing an account of it, along with several true stories, and submitting it to the subject for comment. 25% of subjects came to believe in this fictitious event and recalled elements from the story when they read it. Other psychologists have conducted similar experiments in which fictitious events have been recalled as real for example spilling a punch bowl on the parents of the bride at a wedding.

CHANGE BLINDNESS

As Sherlock Holmes said to Dr Watson, "You see but you do not observe." One reason we cannot rely on our memories is that we don't see the whole picture and therefore cannot be trusted to remember it. A classic experiment devised by psychologist Dan Simons is that of asking the subject to watch a video of two teams of players bouncing a basket ball between them. The subject is so involved in watching the players, and counting the passes they make, that he fails to see a person dressed in a gorilla costume walk across the screen and wave to him.

You will find many videos of change blindness experiments on the internet. They reveal that we pay little attention to things that are outside our immediate focus. Another term for change blindness is inattentional blindness.

CLASSICAL CONDITIONING

It was Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov that discovered he could condition the dogs used in his research to salivate at the sound of a bell rather than the presence of the food they awaited. This conditional response also works in humans.

One of the most controversial experiments in conditioning is known as Little Albert and was conducted in 1920 by American psychologist John B. Watson. Albert, a pseudonym, was just nine-months old when the experiments began. They involved a white rat which Little Albert was happy to play with when it was first introduced. Albert had no instinctive fear of the rat. Later Watson would make a loud clanging noise by striking an iron bar with a hammer whenever the rat appeared. The sound, not the rat, distressed the child. Within two weeks just the sight of the rat would have Little Albert crying. Watson's study was part of his belief that our behaviour is shaped by our environment and not handed down by genetics.

Further Reading

The Psychology of Interrogations and Confessions: A Handbook by Professor Gísli Guðjónsson
This academic text explains why people confess, why some make false confessions and details many miscarriages of justice that are the direct result of false confessions.
John Wiley & Sons Ltd. (2003)

The Myth of Repressed Memory by Elizabeth Loftus
The book includes details of the Lost in the Mall experiment and the injustices that can arise from the malleability of memory.
St Martins Press (1994)

The Invisible Gorilla by Dan Simons and Christopher Chabris
Written by the pioneer of change blindness experiments the book explains why we fail to see what is in front of us and why eye witness testimony can be very unreliable.
HarperCollins (2010)

Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini
A classic of popular psychology covering the whole gamut of persuasion from the way the police elicit confessions to how conditioning and association techniques are used by advertisers, politicians and other contemporary persuaders.
William Morrow and Company (1984)

Sources:
http://www.channel4.com/programmes/derren-brown-the-experiments/episode-...
http://www.channel4.com/programmes/derren-brown-the-experiments/articles...
http://derrenbrown.co.uk/blog/tag/the-experiments/