Author ORCID Identifier

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7164-9793

Semester

Fall

Date of Graduation

2024

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Type

PhD

College

Eberly College of Arts and Sciences

Department

Psychology

Committee Chair

Elisa Krackow

Committee Member

Amy Fiske

Committee Member

Karen Anderson

Committee Member

Karen Weiss

Abstract

The current study examined relations between developmental stage, impulsivity, and false confessions. Based on the findings from Tervo-Clemmens et al. (2023), participants were divided into two groups based on age; ages included those who had not yet reached executive functioning maturation (12-to-20-years-old) and those who had reached executive functioning maturation (21-to-37-years-old). Impulsiveness was determined by performance on a delay-discounting task based on Mok et al. (2020) and the Barratt Impulsivity Scale-11 (BIS-11) Self-control subscale. False confessions were measured based on whether participants orally admitted to a minor wrongdoing. All participants experienced the same study procedure. The false confession paradigm utilized was a combination of the ALT key paradigm and anagram paradigm (Kassin & Kiechel, 1996; Joseph & Hartwig, 2020). Participants were told not to press the ALT/Option key or their data would be deleted. In Phase 1 of the study, participants completed a delay-discounting task and the Barratt Impulsivity Scale-11. In Phase 2, participants completed the anagram task and were subsequently accused of pressing the ALT/Option key and deleting their data. This study found no significant differences between false-confessors and non-false confessors in regard to age, developmental group, delay-discounting performance, or BIS-11 Self-control subscale scores. Therefore, this study contributed to the understanding of the role that brain development (as it relates to self-control abilities and based on age) plays in the higher rate of false confessions among younger suspects, as compared to older suspects.

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