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Shakespeare (1600) and Freud (1925) both expressed suspicions about the innocence of people who protest their innocence “too much.” Disbelief in excessive claims of innocence is apparently common. For example, Yandell (1979) showed that most observers attribute an actor's unprovoked claims of innocence to the actor's guilty conscience. But is an individual with a guilty conscience any more likely, in fact, to claim innocence than an individual with a clear conscience? And if so, why might the guilty individual “protest too much”?
According to the psychoanalytic view, many of our desires, especially sexual and aggressive desires, conflict with societal standards. Becoming aware of antisocial wishes makes us feel guilty and anxious. And, since individuals are motivated to avoid unpleasant affect, the ego attempts to prevent antisocial thoughts from entering awareness. But situations can occur in which it is impossible to block awareness of guilt-provoking thoughts. For example, an individual may attend a performance of Oedipus Rex, or he may be directly asked by another to consider