Generalized Communicative Suspicion (GCS) Among Police Officers: Accounting for the Investigator Bias Effect1

Abstract

[EN]Research shows at police officers are no more accurate than non-oficers in discerning between truthful and deceptive statements, hut more biased than non-officers to judge statements as deceptive. This was labeled by Meissner and Kassin (2002) as the investigator bias effect. A likely explanation could be that, since ofticers are normally involved in situations where questioning the truthfulness of the interviewee is essential, they could develop a generalized communicative suspicion (GCS). Levine and McCornack’s (1 991 ) GCS scale was adapted to the Spanish context and used to compare the GCS ratings of 152 undergraduates, 88 experienced officers, and 89 police recruits. Experienced officers’ GCS scores were significantly higher than those of the other groups, which did not differ from each other. This suggests that socialization within the police force incrcases the officcrs’ suspicion, leading them to make deceptiveness judgments.