This is the accepted version of the paper.This version of the publication may differ from the final published version. Permanent repository link Method:The current study explored the transcripts of child witnesses with ID, relative to those of typically developing (TD) age-matched children, and assessed how mock jurors perceived these transcripts in the absence of knowledge of group (ID or TD) membership. A further aim of this research was to determine whether perceptions of credibility were associated with levels of free recall and witness characteristics (anxiety and mental age). Results:Mock jurors rated the testimony of children with ID as less credible than that of a TD age-matched comparison group. This was largely due to the transcripts of the children with ID containing fewer details than those of the TD children. Anxiety and mental age were found to have no effect on perceived levels of credibility.Conclusions: It appears that even in the absence of knowledge of whether a child does or does not have ID, this factor still affects perceptions of credibility among mock jurors. Our findings suggest that fundamental differences in the quality of the witness transcripts lead to lower perceptions of credibility for children with ID.

Twenty-eight four-year-old and 28 five- and six-year-old subjects were presented with either poor or rich recipients. The recipients were defined visually with a picture of the type of home they lived in and verbally with a brief story. All subjects were asked to share from 17 units of each of two types of candy, one of low and the other of high value. The subjects assigned poor recipients shared a significantly larger number of units than the subjects assigned rich recipients, and all subjects shared a significantly larger number of the low value items. The age and interaction effects were nonsignificant. The effect of the affluence of the recipient was interpreted in terms of the arousal of empathy.

No abstract

An investigation was conducted among 120 college men and women to study their attitudes toward a worker described in scenarios using the dimensions of competence and age. The attitude measure included 7 questions to be rated. Ratings were analyzed using 2 × 2 × 2 randomized groups design. Results indicated that the competence variable was significant for 6 of the 7 questions. On these 6 questions the highly competent worker was viewed more positively than the worker of average competency. Males indicated less preference to work for an older worker than did females. Students viewed the older worker as making fewer future valuable contributions and as catching on to new ideas less quickly. There was no over-all negative evaluation to the older worker except in regard to these mental and physical abilities.

No abstract