Does Rapport Increase Compliance During Investigative Interviews?

This research examined how rapport influences compliance within the context of police interrogations. All participants (N = 399) were interviewed about their prior unethical and illegal behaviors. The interviewer behaved in a way that elicited either high (n = 199) or low (n =200) rapport and expressed they had a goal for participants to either admit (n = 127), deny (n = 132) guilt, or no preference was expressed (n=140). The dependent variable was the number of admissions. Results showed that rapport had a significant effect on admissions and the interviewer’s goal had a significant effect on admissions and denials. Participants who believed the interviewer’s goal was admissions, admitted to more unethical and illegal behaviors than participants who believed the goal was denials. The effect of the interviewer’s goal was not significantly different in high rapport, therefore the hypothesis that high rapport will increase compliance was not supported