Motivation and emotion/Book/2024/Truth serum drugs

Truth Serum Drugs:
What are truth serum drugs, do they work, and how?

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Overview

You have been convicted of a murder you did not commit. All evidence points to you and your alibi is unprovable. The jury is convinced you are the murderer and a life in prison awaits you. However, a physician offers one last piece of hope to aid in your trial. With your consent, he will administer truth serum. Largely untested and with inconclusive results, the truth serum may not assist in the prosecution. Do you consent to take the truth serum? Do you believe it will help your case? Will there be adverse effects from the serum? Should the jury take your statement as true? These are all questions that surrounded the initial use of truth serum (Minor., 1995)

Key Concepts:

• Truth Serum Drugs: Substances intended to enhance truth-telling or reduce resistance to interrogation.
• Motivation and Emotion: Understanding how these drugs interact with cognitive functions related to motivation and emotion.
• Evidence: Analysis of research on the effectiveness and reliability of truth serum drugs

Focus Questions: 1. What does research say about the efficacy of truth serums in eliciting truthful information? 2. What are the primary drugs classified as truth serums and how do they work? 3. How do these drugs affect motivation and emotion during interrogation? 4. What are the ethical considerations surrounding the use of truth serum drugs?

Efficacy

Debate over efficacy and whether truth serum drugs provide sound evidence.

Initial use

Robert Ernest found drugs could lower inhibitions and make subjects more likely to disclose information (Winter et al., 2005)

Modern research

Potential applications but lack of acceptance and lack of concrete evidence reduces efficacy (Barnwal., 2016)

Primary Drugs

Drugs that reduce inhibition in various ways

Sodium Pentothal (Thiopental)

Figure 1. A vial of Sodium Amytal

A central nervous system depressant, slows brain activity and reduces inhibition (Fraser et al., 1950)

Scopolamine

Induced a trance like state called "twilight-sleep" by Dr House. More commonly used to medicate motion sickness, it interferes acetylcholine receptors (Geis et al., 1959)

Sodium Amytal

Sodium Amytal (see figure 1) is similar to sodium pentothal as it is a nervous system depressant. Gained traction in World War 2 as it can be given orally and is easy to mask the flavour (Freedman., 1960)

How Do They Work?

Impact a number of key psychological processes

Reduced Anxiety and Emotional Barriers

Typically depresses the central nervous system, reducing inhibition.

Increased Suggestibility

Reduced inhibition means that patients under the effect of truth serum are more likely to be convinced by external cues.

Potential problems around leading questions.

Emotional Detachment

Can interfere with the patient's motivations, as they may become indifferent to the consequences of their statements.

Ethical Considerations

Many ethical considerations surround truth serum and the use of truth serum has been outlawed in many countries.

Human Rights Concerns

International legal standards, such as those outlined in the UN Convention Against Torture, prohibit their use (Keller et al., 2004)

Informed Consent

Subjects under the influence of these drugs may not be fully aware of or able to consent to the interrogation process.

Coercion

Truth serums can be considered a form of psychological coercion, as they alter mental states and impair decision-making capacities.

Figures

Figure 2. Example of an image with a descriptive caption.

• Use figures to illustrate concepts, add interest, and to serve as examples
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• Embed figures throughout the chapter, including the Overview section
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• Refer to each figure at least once in the main text (e.g., see Figure 2)

Learning features

You decided to take the truth serum in front of the court to attempt to prove your innocence. Scopolamine was used as you drift into a "twilight-sleep" state. In this state you are asked a leading question. Unable to consider your response you reply and add more evidence to your case that suggests you are guilty of the murder. As psychologists, it's important to understand the dangers of truth serum drugs and the potential ramifications of an incorrect statement.

Conclusion

• The Conclusion is arguably the most important section
• Suggested word count: 150 to 330 words
• It should be possible for someone to only read the Overview and the Conclusion and still get a pretty good idea of the problem and what is known based on psychological science

Suggestions for this section: What is the answer to the sub-title question based on psychological theory and research? What are the answers to the focus questions? What are the practical, take-home messages? (Even for the topic development, have a go at the likely take-home message)

See also

Provide internal (wiki) links to the most relevant Wikiversity pages (esp. related motivation and emotion book chapters) and Wikipedia articles. Use these formats:

• Drugs violence nexus and motivation (Wikiversity)
• Truth Serum (Wikipedia)

Suggestions for this section: Present in alphabetical order Use sentence casing Include the source in parentheses

References

A;, W. (n.d.). The making of “Truth serum.” Bulletin of the history of medicine. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16184018/

Barnwal, A. K. (2016). Development of Narco Analysis Test as investigation technique in the criminal justice system: An indian perspective. IOSR Journal of Humanities and Social Science, 21(07), 97–102. https://doi.org/10.9790/0837-21070897102

Freedman, L. Z. (1960). “truth” drugs. Scientific American, 202(3), 145–154. https://doi.org/10.1038/scientificamerican0360-145

Geis, G. (1959). Sociology, criminology, and criminal law. Social Problems, 7(1), 40–47. https://doi.org/10.1525/sp.1959.7.1.03a00060

Keller, L. M. (2004). Is truth serum torture? SSRN Electronic Journal. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.599143

Search results from newspaper, 1930 to 1939, Dallas, Texas. The Library of Congress. (n.d.). https://www.loc.gov/newspapers/?fa=location%3Adallas%7Clocation%3Atexas&all=true&c=150&dates=1930-1939&st=list

Tarnower, S. M., & Gladstone, R. W. (1950). Use of Pentothal sodium in the prevention of musculoskeletal injuries during electroconvulsive therapy. New England Journal of Medicine, 242(17), 653–655. https://doi.org/10.1056/nejm195004272421704

Suggestions for this section:

• Important aspects for APA style include:
  • Wrap the set of references in the hanging indent template. Use "Edit source": {{Hanging indent|1= the full list of references}}
  • Author surname, followed by a comma, then the author initials separated by full stops and spaces
  • Year of publication in parentheses
  • Title of work in lower case except first letter and proper names, ending in a full-stop
  • Journal title in italics, volume number in italics, issue number in parentheses, first and last page numbers separated by an en-dash(–), followed by a full-stop
  • Provide the full doi as a URL and working hyperlink

External links

Provide external links to highly relevant resources such as presentations, news articles, and professional sites. Use sentence casing. For example:

• What is Truth Serum (McGill.ca)
• Can a drug make you tell the truth? (BBC.com)

Suggestions for this section: Only select links to major external resources about the topic Present in alphabetical order Include the source in parentheses after the link