A new study by Dr. Daniel Wegner of Harvard University has revealed that torturing someone can actually make them appear guiltier (even if they are not). It’s an interesting concept that has many implications for the treatment of suspects and the practice of trying to ease out falsity through pain. The study was published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology while the research was supported by the Canadian Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and the Institute for Humane studies.
For the experiment, all those who participated were told that the study was about moral behaviour and that their job was to listen for a confession during the torture of a woman “suspected” of cheating to win prize money (this however was only a “mock” torture; she was not actually physically harmed). Half of the seventy-eight participants were brought in to the room to meet the woman while the other half were simply listening to the entire session via an intercom. For the actual “torture” the subject had her hand immersed in ice cold water while she was interrogated. It is important to note, however, that during the entire experiment the suspect never actually confessed to any crime, but only reacted with either indifference or pain and whimpering in response to the torture.
The experiment produced some interesting results. Those who only listened to the entire thing over the recording found that as the suspect experienced more pain they saw her as less guilty where as those who were actually present in the room during the torture thought she seemed guiltier with increased expression of pain. The explanation of these findings is that in only hearing the interactions, one sympathizes and associates the pain experienced by the person with innocence. However, when one is present as a witness, they have to justify the cruelty by reasoning in their mind that the person deserves the pain because they are actually guilty.
These results have led Wegner's team to suspect that torture may more often lead to the perception of guilt than actually uncovering the truth. This idea is even more startling when one considers that research has shown people are more likely to believe the truth has been found when someone has been tortured.
There is still debate over whether or not torturing someone actually makes them more likely to tell the truth and has sparked much debate over cases where forms of torture are still practiced. One such case is in the war on terror in which the Bush administration justified the mistreatment of prisoners with the fact that they were unlawful combatants, who are not guaranteed rights by the Geneva Convention or U.S. law.
A case of this which sparked a lot of controversy was the Abu Ghraib scandal in which prison guards tortured Iraqi detainees, slowly viewing them as more and more guilty as time went on. Some of the acts of torture that occurred were sexual assault and degradation, the use of dogs to frighten detainees, breaking chemical lights, and pouring phosphoric acid on them, or pouring cold water over their naked bodies, beating prisoners with a broom handle or chair, and blows to the head.
An investigation into Abu Ghraib by the United States Army Criminal Investigation Command resulted in many charges against personnel and the dishonourable discharge of several soldiers and the commander of Abu Ghraib. It was estimated later that 90 per cent of the detainees were actually innocent.
It’s quite a serious matter as torture can have some harsh psychological and physical effects on people who endure it. Physical effects can include scars, broken bones, muscle swelling, stiffness/atrophy, chronic pain, headaches, deafness, blindness, and loss of teeth. Psychological symptoms can include a lack of sleep, nightmares, problems with concentration, anxiety, depression, irritability, adjustment disorders, impotence, and feelings of powerlessness, shame, and guilt.
It’s important that these studies are conducted so that we can know beforehand if such methods are really effective and be able to weigh them against the resulting consequences. Most importantly, however, it says a lot about our sense of humanity and how easily our rights can be violated.