Substantial research has assessed interrogations seeking to obtain a criminal confession, and consequently much has been learned regarding the potential problems with confession evidence. However, an increasing focus on counter-terrorism, and therefore intelligence interrogations, reveals an obvious gap in the literature. Intelligence interrogations are primarily focused on collecting information from individuals as opposed to a confession linked to an alleged event, and little of the extant psychological literature can speak directly to such a scenario. The current research developed an experimental paradigm to test interrogation approaches in an intelligence-gathering context, providing a method for gathering empirical data on human intelligence collection. In the first implementation of this paradigm, accusatorial and information-gathering interrogation strategies were tested using a procedure high in psychological realism. Results indicate that an information-gathering approach yields more relevant information than an accusatorial approach and leads to more diagnostic impressions by third party observers.

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Despite growing interest in intelligence interviewing, there is little empirical research directly addressing interrogations conducted with the goal of collecting human intelligence (HUMINT). The current study used an experimental intelligencegathering paradigm to test the efficacy of two clusters of emotion-based interrogation approaches from the US Army Field Manual. Results suggest that both Positive and Negative Emotional Approaches increased the collection of information from both guilty and innocent participants when compared with a Direct Approach. While the emotional approaches produced similar gains in information regardless of valence, positive approaches reduced anxiety, increased perceptions of a fostering atmosphere, and enhanced the relationship between fostering atmosphere and information gain. The implications for the use of these techniques in the intelligence interviewing context are discussed.

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