Emotional factors in credibility of statements given by victims with intellectual disabilities

What is it about?

The aim of the present work was to analyze emotional expressions in true and false victims with moderate and light intellectual disability (ID) with no specific etiology. Following the proposals for analyzing credibility based on content criteria (CBCA/SVA) four emotion-related criteria (description of own mental state, description of the mental state of others, emotional expressions during the narrative, and consistency between expressed emotion and the event) were examined in the narratives issued by people with ID on a negative and potentially traumatic event that the person interviewed had experienced or not.

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Why is it important?

The results show no differences in these criteria between true and false statements. In conclusion, emotions must be valued with caution, as it can lead to misjudgments of credibility.