Good cop, bad cop, also informally called the Mutt and Jeff technique,The Phrase Finder

/ref> is a psychological tactic used in

interrogation Interrogation (also called questioning) is interviewing as commonly employed by law enforcement officers, military personnel, intelligence agencies, organized crime syndicates, and terrorist organizations with the goal of eliciting useful informa ...

and

negotiation Negotiation is a dialogue between two or more parties to resolve points of difference, gain an advantage for an individual or Collective bargaining, collective, or craft outcomes to satisfy various interests. The parties aspire to agree on m ...

, in which a team of two people take opposing approaches to the subject. One interrogator adopts a hostile or accusatory demeanor, emphasizing threats of punishment, while the other adopts a more sympathetic demeanor, emphasizing reward, in order to convince the subject to cooperate. It is an instance of the

Reid technique The Reid technique is a method of interrogation after investigation and behavior analysis. The system was developed in the United States by John E. Reid in the 1950s. Reid was a polygraph expert and former Chicago police officer. The technique i ...

Technique

The "bad cop" takes an aggressive, negative stance towards the subject, making blatant accusations, derogatory comments, threats, and in general creating antipathy with the subject. This sets the stage for the "good cop" to act sympathetically, appearing supportive and understanding, and in general showing

sympathy Sympathy is the perception of, understanding of, and reaction to the Mental distress, distress or need of another life form. According to philosopher David Hume, this sympathetic concern is driven by a switch in viewpoint from a personal perspe ...

(or even

empathy Empathy is generally described as the ability to take on another person's perspective, to understand, feel, and possibly share and respond to their experience. There are more (sometimes conflicting) definitions of empathy that include but are ...

) for the subject. The good cop defends the subject from the bad cop. The subject may feel able to cooperate with the good cop, either out of trust or out of fear of the bad cop and may then seek protection by the good cop and provide the information the interrogators are seeking. When this technique is used as a negotiation tactic outside of the interrogation context, the good cop attempts to convince the counterpart to cut a deal by implying that the bad cop will return if no agreement is reached. The order can also be reversed. In this scenario, the good cop does most of the talking, while the bad cop intervenes only to apply pressure to elicit compliance from the subject. The disadvantage of this technique is that it can be easily identified, and the "bad cop" may alienate the subject.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Good cop bad cop Deception Interrogation techniques Law enforcement techniques Stock characters Psychological manipulation Dichotomies

Technique

See also

References

External links