A 2 X2 X 4 X 2 completely randomized between-subject factorial design was employed in a simulated child-custody hearing to evaluate the effects of the sex of the subject, sex of the witness, experience level of the witness, and witness status (psychiatrist, clinical psychologist, social worker, neighbor) on perceived expertness. Three hundred and eightyfour undergraduate students listened to an audiotape of simulated testimony in a childcustody case and subsequently completed a semantic-differential questionnaire embedded with items to evaluate perceived expertise of a source. Results indicate that the experience level and witness status significantly influenced raters' evaluations of witness expertise. Female subjects rated all witnesses higher in expertness and there was a trend in the data that suggested female witnesses may be judged as more expert. The results are discussed in reference to implicit notions people may have of mental health professionals involved in court proceedings and the possible ramifications of the involvement of such professionals in legal matters.Recently, the role of the mental health professional as an expert witness in legal proceedings has come under increased scrutiny in both the mass media and the scientific community. Central to this recent concern seems to be the following question: What influence or effect does testimony given by a mental health expert have in the context of a legal discussion-making process? Most writers who have addressed this question typically seem to neglect empirical approaches (Kittrie, 1971;Szasz, 1963Szasz, , 1977, whereas others seem to either use empirical methods mainly for the study of the accuracy of eyewitness testimony (Goldstein, 1977;Saks & Hastie, 1978) or to present "how to" accounts for both attorneys and potential witness (Poythress, 1980). Rather surprisingly, few have used empirical analyses to produce data that have implications for the effects of mental health expert testimony (Dowdle, Gillen, & Miller, 1975;Klein, 1968;Ludwig & Fontaine, 1978).One possibility that has been given little theoretical or empirical attention is the notion that the perceived expertness of a mental health professional may be a function of his or her social role or stereotype.Poythress (1983), surveying judges in Michigan, suggested that individuals who are involved in making legal decisions perceive mental health professionals differently in terms of how "socially desirable" they are to testify as expert witnesses. He suggested that judges consider numerous factors when deciding admissibility of expert testimony by mental health professionals, including titles, social status, experience, and clinical knowledge.Ludwig and Fontaine (1978) reiterated this point by noting that although testimony provides most of the information about a crime, little research has been done on the effects of testifying. Thus although the literature generally shows that mental health experts all influence judges' and jurors' decisions, almost no studies have attempted to measure...

Nursery schoolers and first-and third-graders participated in an interview which assessed recall, comprehension, and perceived importance of three sources of self-knowledge: social feedback, self-observation, and social comparison. For recall measures, these sources were embedded in stories about a child making a self-discovery. Recall of all three sources improved with grade level, and feedback was the best remembered self-validational process. Comprehension was defined as the ability to identify the sources as depicted in line drawings, and it, too, increased with grade level. All three sources were well understood by older children, but preschoolers had difficulty with the concept of social comparison. Ratings of importance, also assessed using line drawings, were independent of grade level. When selecting their own "very best" source of self-knowledge, children cited self-observation most frequently. A supplementary sample of preschoolers nominated the best source of self-knowledge for other children rather than for themselves; under these instructions, feedback from others emerged as the preferred source.Self-perceivers increasingly engage in metacognitive appraisals of themselves as they gain in experience and cognitive complexity (Flavell, 1979(Flavell, , 1981). An example is an activity that could be called meta-selfperception: people can reflect upon their strategies for developing selfknowledge and validating the self-concept.Formal theories of self-conception have suggested three sources of self-knowledge (Rosenberg, 1979;Shaver, 1975;Wegner & Vallacher,