Citation

Endres J, Poggenpohl C, Erben C. Leg. Crim. Psychol. 1999; 4(1): 129-146.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1999, British Psychological Society, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1348/135532599167725

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Purpose. The effects of situational factors on the suggestibility of preschool children were examined in two experiments which used the Bonn Test of Statement Suggestibility as a dependent measure. This test comprises three subscales which are made up of different question formats: misleading yes-no questions, wrongly disjunctive alternative questions and question repetitions. The primary purpose of the two studies was to test expectations about different effects of situational and individual factors on these three subscales.Method. In Expt 1, a 2 2 factorial design with stimulus presentation (single vs. repeated reading of the story) and warning (standard condition vs. explicit warning of misleading questions) was used with 92 children aged between 4 and 7 years. Experiment 2 used a one-factorial design with three conditions (standard, warning and video recording) and a non-suggestive follow-up questioning phase; participants were 60 children aged between 5 and 6 years.Results. Both better memory due to repeated presentation and the warning led to a reduction of errors in answers to suggestive questions, with differing patterns of effects for these experimental factors. Video recording did not affect participants' performance. In the non-suggestive follow-up interview the children were able to correct most, but not all, of their previous errors.Conclusions. These results show that the three suggestibility scales include cognitive and social-motivational components. Age-appropriate instructions, which should include an explicit permission to refuse an answer, are recommended for interviewing young children. Due to these large situational effects and unresolved issues of validity, caution is appropriate in using test scores for single-case evaluations.

Language: en