Suggestibility, social support, and memory for a novel experience in young children

Abstract

This study examined 5- and 6-year-olds' suggestibility and interviewer demeanor as joint predictors of their memory for a novel experience. Session 1 consisted of children taking part in a novel laboratory event. Session 2 took place after approximately a 1-week delay and consisted of children completing both a memory test concerning what happened during the prior event and the Video Suggestibility Scale for Children (VSSC). During the second session, the interviewer behaved either supportively or nonsupportively. Greater acquiescence on the VSSC was associated with fewer correct responses to misleading questions about the laboratory event in the supportive and nonsupportive conditions and with more errors in response to specific questions in the nonsupportive condition. Results indicate that individual differences in children's suggestibility are related to the accuracy of their memory for separate events, although some of these relations may vary depending on the context in which children are interviewed.

A comfortable witness is a good witness: rapport‐building and susceptibility to misinformation in an investigative mock‐crime interview

“…Conversely, the non-supportive interviewer simply fails to utilize these techniques. A majority of these studies find that a supportive interviewer increases the overall accuracy of child witness reports and decreases the amount of incorrect responses to misleading questions compared to a non-supportive interviewer (Carter, Bottoms, & Levine, 1996;Goodman, Bottoms, Schwartz-Kenney, & Rudy, 1991;Moston & Engleberg, 1992;Quas, Wallin, Papini, Lench, & Scullin, 2005).…”

Support and Reluctance in the Pre‐substantive Phase of Alleged Child Abuse Victim Investigative Interviews: Revised versus Standard NICHD Protocols

“…2;Moston, 1992), enhances their resistance to misleading questions (Carter, Bottoms, & Levine, 1996;Davis & Bottoms, 2002;Imhoff & Baker-Ward, 1999), and reduces their suggestibility (Cornah & Memon, 1996;Greenstock & Pipe, 1996Quas, Wallin, Papini, Lench, & Scullin, 2005). Field studies to date have shown that children's cooperation can be established when they are invited to share personally meaningful information during the pre-substantive phase of the interview (Hershkowitz, 2009;Roberts, Lamb, & Sternberg, 2004;Sternberg et al, 1997) and when interviewers encourage children to talk (Teoh & Lamb, 2010).…”

Children's memory for a mild stressor: The role of sympathetic activation and parasympathetic withdrawal

“…For instance, chronic stress, temperament, and attachment may differentially influence children's behavioral and/or physiological coping reactions (e.g., Compas, Connor-Smith, & Jaser, 2004;Goodman et al, 1997), and therefore have implications both for what children perceive as distressing and how children subsequently respond. Moreover, although there are no theoretical reasons to assume intelligence has implications for children's stress reactivity, both higher intelligence and more advanced verbal ability have been related to better memory (e.g., Quas, Wallin, Papini, Lench, & Scullin, 2005;Roebers & Schneider, 2001). Insofar as models concerning associations between stress and memory become increasingly complex, it will be important to take into account these other individual and social factors as independent or interactive contributors to children's memory.…”