DETERMINATION OF CRIMINAL RESPONSIBILITY - APPLICATION OF THE 2-ALTERNATIVE FORCED-CHOICE STRATAGEM

The two-alternative forced-choice principle, which has been used to de tect malingering and ''hysterical'' symptoms, was applied to the asses sment of criminal responsibility in an analog study. Prison inmates an d university students completed forced-choice tests of general knowled ge and moral reasoning on which below-chance scores indicate dishonest performance. Subjects were assigned randomly to one of three groups: control, naive faking, and coached faking. Significantly greater propo rtions of subjects in the naive and coached faking groups than in the control group scored significantly below chance on each test. Cutoff s cores to maximize accuracy of classification were established for both tests. Implications of the findings for detecting individuals who fak e a lack of criminal responsibility are considered, as well as directi ons for future research with other populations.