Purpose. Interrogative suggestibility may vary as a function of interviewer behaviour. The present study assessed the effect of two interviewer styles on measures of interrogative suggestibility obtained using the first of the Gudjonsson Suggestibility Scales (GSS1). It was hypothesized that a generally abrupt demeanour adopted by the interviewer would produce greater psychological distance, and therefore higher GSS1 scores, than a friendly demeanour. Methods. The study had a single factor between participants design. Participants were tested on the GSS1 by an interviewer whose behaviour was either ‘friendly’ or ‘abrupt’. One female experimenter conducted all of the interviews. Fifty‐five participants took part in the study. Most participants were first year undergraduate psychology students. Others were university administrative staff. Results. Two of the GSS1 measures appeared to be biased significantly by interviewer style. Participants tested in the ‘abrupt’ condition gained higher scores for Shiftand Total Suggestibility than those in the ‘friendly’ condition. Conclusions. These results are consistent with the view that the GSS1 provides measures of two different types of suggestibility. However, this finding may also mean that whilst initial responses to leading questions are mediated by more stable cognitive factors that are relatively unaffected by interviewer demeanour, post‐feedback scores may be more sensitive to the social aspects of suggestibility. Implications of the results for the objectivityand administration of the Gudjonsson Suggestibility Scales are discussed.

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Purpose. Research using the Gudjonsson Suggestibility Scales (GSS) has found interrogative suggestibility (IS) to vary as a function of the overall demeanour of the interviewer, warnings about the presence of misleading information, and the self‐esteem of the interviewee, as outlined by Gudjonsson and Clark (1986). The present study attempted to assess how these factors interact. Method. The study had a three‐factor between‐participants design: interviewer demeanour × instructional manipulation × self‐esteem. One hundred and twenty undergraduates took part in the study. Results. Participants reporting lower self‐esteem scored higher on the GSS ‘Shift’ measure than participants reporting higher levels of self‐esteem. Participants faced with a ‘Friendly’ interviewer scored lower on the GSS Yield 1 and Total Suggestibility measures than did those participants faced with a more ‘Abrupt’ interviewer. Participants warned about the presence of misleading information scored lower on Yield 1 and Total Suggestibility. A potentially key finding was that participants who received a warning demonstrated an increased number of Shifts in the Friendly condition compared with those who were not warned. In the Abrupt condition this pattern was reversed. Conclusion. The results supported studies showing that all three variables tested affect levels of IS but further suggested that optimal interviewer support for interviewees' discrepancy detection may be provided either by a relaxed interviewer manner or by warnings alone, but not by both.

Purpose. The aim of the present study was to investigate possible indicators of malingering or ‘faking bad’ on the Gudjonsson Suggestibility Scales. It was hypothesized that participants who were issued with a set of instructions that primed them to appear gullible and susceptible to pressure would exhibit a unique pattern of scores on the scales that would differentiate them from both normal adults and genuinely vulnerable populations. Methods. The study had a single factor between participants design. Participants were tested in either one of two conditions: standard or faking. Forty‐two participants took part in the study. Participants were a mix of undergraduates, postgraduate students, and professionals. Results. Only Yield 1 scores were found to be significantly different between the two conditions. Participants in the faking condition gained higher scores on this measure on both the GSS 1 and GSS 2. Conclusions. Results indicate that whilst fakers may identify the need to yield to leading questions as a strategy for faking interrogative suggestibility, they do not identify the need to make shifts in their responses. An elevated Yield 1 score in the absence of any other raised scores on the scales may therefore be indicative of faking bad on the Gudjonsson Suggestibility Scales.

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This version is available at https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/50845/ Strathprints is designed to allow users to access the research output of the University of Strathclyde. Unless otherwise explicitly stated on the manuscript, Copyright © and Moral Rights for the papers on this site are retained by the individual authors and/or other copyright owners. Please check the manuscript for details of any other licences that may have been applied. You may not engage in further distribution of the material for any profitmaking activities or any commercial gain. You may freely distribute both the url (https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/) and the content of this paper for research or private study, educational, or not-for-profit purposes without prior permission or charge.Any correspondence concerning this service should be sent to the Strathprints administrator: strathprints@strath.ac.ukThe Strathprints institutional repository (https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk) is a digital archive of University of Strathclyde research outputs. It has been developed to disseminate open access research outputs, expose data about those outputs, and enable the management and persistent access to Strathclyde's intellectual output. 1 AbstractThe theoretical model of interrogative suggestibility predicts that levels of suggestibility are related to cognitive sets and coping strategies in dealing with interrogative pressure. Active coping strategies, involving a critical cognitive set, should be associated with reduced suggestibility. Whilst there are mixed results regarding the role of specific coping strategies in suggestibility, some evidence suggests that individuals most concerned with managing their emotional states may be more likely to engage in avoidance, emotion-focused styles of coping and consequently demonstrate higher levels of interrogative suggestibility. In line with this, self-esteem has been identified as a factor affecting how people cope with interrogative pressure. This study further investigated the role of coping strategies and selfesteem in measuring interrogative suggestibility. Participants completed the Gudjonsson Suggestibility Scale (GSS 2), the COPE, and the Culture-Free Self-Esteem Inventory. Total self-esteem was not related to any of the GSS 2 measures, but correlated negatively with emotion-focused coping. Regression analyses found significant predictive models for Yield 1, Yield 2 and Total Suggestibility. Emotion-focused coping emerged as the only significant predictor of these measures. Results are discussed in terms of their theoretical implications.

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