image: Katherine (Katy) DeCelles is a Professor of Organizational Behavior and Academic Director of the PhD Program at the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management and cross-appointed to the University's Centre for Criminology and Sociolegal Studies. She also holds the Secretary of State Professorship in Organizational Effectiveness. Her research is on the intersection of organizational behavior and criminology. She focuses on understanding the micro-mechanisms involved in conflict, power, inequality, activism and aggression as they relate to organizations. Her research has been highlighted in outlets such as the Smithsonian Magazine, Science Magazine, BBC, CNN, and The New York Times. Her research has received awards from the Academy of Management and American Sociological Association, and she has been recognized for her MBA teaching by Poets & Quants (2018). view more
Credit: Rotman School of Management
Toronto – Computer equipment is missing from a company storage room. Of the three employees who have access, two respond calmly when questioned by management. A third yells and swears. Who is most likely guilty?
If you chose the angry one, you’re not alone. New research shows we tend to equate guilt with an angry response to accusations of wrongdoing.
You also probably got it wrong.
“In our studies, an angry response is stronger among the innocent than among the guilty,” says lead researcher Katherine DeCelles, a professor of organizational behaviour at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto.
Across six separate studies, Prof. DeCelles and her research colleagues laid out the disconnect between the way we typically interpret anger when trying to determine someone else’s guilt or innocence and the way we tend to respond when we are falsely accused ourselves.
Whether it was recalling an incident from their past or doing a task where they were told they hadn’t paid attention to instructions, participants showed a consistent tendency to respond more angrily to allegations of wrongdoing when they were false, versus when they were accurate.
On the other hand, further studies, involving scenarios from potential marital infidelity to armed robbery, consistently revealed that people were inclined to perceive even a mildly angry or irritable response from an accused person as a sign of guilt.
Going silent was almost as damning. The best response was a calm denial.
“It’s so hard because if you’re falsely accused of something, of course you’ll be upset,” says Prof. DeCelles. “It’s very difficult to be calm, especially if it’s consequential.”
Why the mismatch? As individuals, we may find it easier to see our own anger as a proper response to a false accusation compared to somebody else, because we have more access to our emotions and thoughts. We perceive our anger as justified while another person’s is inauthentic.
Despite the popular legal stereotype showcased in legal dramas where criminals respond angrily when confronted, researchers until now have not probed whether anger is a valid indicator of guilt versus innocence.
That’s a problem, because as Prof. DeCelles’ research shows, even professionals who must decide whether someone is innocent or guilty as part of their job -- police officers, fraud investigators, auditors and lawyers -- fell into the anger-equals-guilt trap, with potentially far-reaching consequences for the accused. When the researchers surveyed these professionals, many referenced the line borrowed from Shakespeare, “thou doth protest too much,” to back up their perceptions.
Prof. DeCelles points out that there could be training done to help correct this misunderstanding.
That goes for everybody else too, she suggests. We should all aim to reserve our judgment for hard evidence. “Be more in question-asking and information-seeking mode than accusation mode,” she advises.
The study was co-authored with Gabrielle Adams of the University of Virginia, Holly Howe from Duke University and Leslie John from Harvard University. It appeared in Psychological Science.
Bringing together high-impact faculty research and thought leadership on one searchable platform, the new Rotman Insights Hub offers articles, podcasts, opinions, books and videos representing the latest in management thinking and providing insights into the key issues facing business and society. Visit www.rotman.utoronto.ca/insightshub.
The Rotman School of Management is part of the University of Toronto, a global centre of research and teaching excellence at the heart of Canada’s commercial capital. Rotman is a catalyst for transformative learning, insights and public engagement, bringing together diverse views and initiatives around a defining purpose: to create value for business and society. For more information, visit www.rotman.utoronto.ca
-30-
For more information:
Ken McGuffin
Manager, Media Relations
Rotman School of Management
University of Toronto
E-mail:mcguffin@rotman.utoronto.ca
Journal
Psychological Science
Method of Research
Experimental study
Subject of Research
People
Article Title
Anger Damns the Innocent
Article Publication Date
28-Jul-2021