Publications
Publications
- August 2021
- Psychological Science
Anger Damns the Innocent
By: Katherine DeCelles, Gabrielle Adams, Holly S. Howe and Leslie K. John
Abstract
False accusations of wrongdoing are common and can have grave consequences. In six studies, we document a worrisome paradox in perceivers’ subjective judgments of a suspect’s guilt. Specifically, we find that laypeople (online panelists; N = 4,983) use suspects’ angry responses to accusations as cues of guilt. However, we find that such anger is an invalid cue of guilt and is instead a valid cue of innocence; accused individuals university students (N = 230) and online panelists (N = 401) are angrier when they are falsely versus accurately accused. This pattern holds even among professionals (N = 136)—sophisticated perceivers with considerable practical influence. Moreover, we find that those who remain silent are perceived to be at least as guilty as those who angrily deny the accusation.
Keywords
Morality; Accusations; Deception; Guilt; Affect; Emotions; Behavior; Perception; Judgments; Decision Making
Citation
DeCelles, Katherine, Gabrielle Adams, Holly S. Howe, and Leslie K. John. "Anger Damns the Innocent." Psychological Science 32, no. 8 (August 2021): 1214–1226.
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