No abstract

Previous research has shown that children naturally propagate overheard false rumors and that the circulation of such information can induce children and their peers to wrongly recall actually experiencing rumored-but-nonexperienced events. The present study extends this work by recording 3- to 6-year-olds’ naturally-occurring conversations following exposure to an erroneous rumor. Results indicate that compared to children who overhear rumors spread by adults, those who pick up rumors from peers during natural interactions engage in deeper and more inventive rumor mongering. Moreover, the degree and originality of rumor propagation was linked with various qualities of children’s subsequent recollections at both a 1-week and 4-week delayed interview. Further, compared to 3- and 4-year-olds, 5- and 6-year-olds naturally transmitted more novel and coherent embellishments of the rumor to their peers, and more of their false narrative reports during the interviews overlapped with their own and their peers’ utterances transmitted soon after the rumor was planted.