If falsely accused, stay calm - not quiet

Across six studies, researchers explored how laypeople and experts make guilt judgments when the accused person is angry.

The results showed that study participants were more likely to rate angry defendants as guilty. When defendants were silent, participants rated them as most guilty. But it is not just laypeople who view anger as a sign of guilt. Professionals such as fraud investigators and auditors also rated an angry response as a sign of guilt and remaining silent as an indicator of guilt.