Psychologist Shares New Techniques to Improve Interrogation Efficiency

Pär-Anders Granhag, a leading researcher in legal and investigative psychology, recently gave a seminar on “New Trends in Research on Interrogation: Strategic Use of Evidence and the Scharff Technique” at NYU Shanghai. Pär-Anders Granhag is a Professor of Psychology at the University of Gothenburg. He is a highly cited scholar for his work in interviewing and interrogation, deception detection and credibility assessment.

While the word “interrogation” has been traditionally linked with aggressive questioning and torture, modern interrogation techniques incorporate wisdom from psychology. Interviewers are taught to use psychology and innovative techniques to collect and classify information.

In the seminar, Professor Granhag presented two techniques that represent the new trends in the area, namely, the Strategic Use of Evidence (SUE) technique, a technique that provides guidance on how to most effectively use critical background information when interrogating suspects, and the Scharff technique, a Human Intelligence gathering technique that is used to efficiently gather information from sources, suspects and detainees. 

“Professor Granhag's research shows that it is possible to conduct interrogations effectively without resorting to unethical means,” said Pekka Santtila, who is the Co-Director of the NYU-ECNU Institute for Social Development at NYU Shanghai and a Professor of Psychology at NYU Shanghai.

The seminar was attended by scholars in legal and investigation areas.  The audience also brought their own experience to the discussion that enriched the exchanges of knowledge and skills between Western and Eastern interrogation models.