Interrogative suggestibility in the elderly.

Silvia Biondi,Alberto Di Domenico,Merylin Monaro,Stefano Ferracuti,Cristina Mazza,Graziella Orrù,Paolo Roma,Eleonora Ricci,Rosemary Frey

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0241353

Abstract

Interrogative suggestibility (IS) describes the extent to which an individual behavioral response is affected by messages communicated during formal questioning within a closed social interaction. The present study aimed at improving knowledge about IS in the elderly (aged 65 years and older), in particular about its association with both emotive/affective and cognitive variables. The sample (N = 172) was divided into three groups on the basis of age: late adult (aged 55–64, N = 59), young elderly (aged 65–74, N = 63), and elderly (aged 75 and older, N = 50). Cognitive (i.e., Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test-2, Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test), emotive/affective (i.e., Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, Marlowe–Crowne Social Desirability Scale, Penn State Worry Questionnaire) and suggestibility measures (i.e., Gudjonsson Suggestibility Scale-2) were administered. In order to identify differences and associations between groups in IS, cognitive and emotive/affective variables, ANOVAs tests and Pearson’s correlations were run. Furthermore, moderation analyses and hierarchical regression were set to determine whether age, cognitive and emotive/affective variables predicted IS components (i.e., Yield and Shift). Finally, machine learning models were developed to highlight the best strategy for classifying elderly subjects with high suggestibility. The results corroborated the significant link between IS and age, showing that elderly participants had the worst performance on all suggestibility indexes. Age was also the most important predictor of both Yield and Shift. Results also confirmed the important role of non-verbal intelligence and memory impairment in explaining IS dimensions, showing that these associations were stronger in young elderly and elderly groups. Implications about interrogative procedures with older adults were discussed.

Highlights

In 1919, McDougall [1] defined suggestion as “a process of communication resulting in the acceptance with conviction of the communicated proposition in the absence of logicallySuggestibility in elderly adequate grounds for its acceptance”
Pearson’s correlation analyses (Table 3) showed that Yield scores were significantly negatively correlated with all cognitive variables (IR Gudjonsson Suggestibility Scale Version 2 (GSS-2) and Delayed Recall (DR); Immediate Recall (IR) and DR Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT); Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test-2 (KBIT-2) NV and V) in all age groups, with the exception of IR and DR RAVLT in the late adult group
Positive correlations between Shift scores and Marlowe–Crowne Social Desirability Scale (MCSDS) were found in the late adult and young elderly groups, whereas no significant correlation between these factors was found in the elderly group

Summary

Introduction

In 1919, McDougall [1] defined suggestion as “a process of communication resulting in the acceptance with conviction of the communicated proposition in the absence of logicallySuggestibility in elderly adequate grounds for its acceptance”. Suggestibility is described as “a peculiar state of mind which is favourable to suggestion” [2] It has been described as the tendency to accept messages communicated during an interview in a way that influences one’s behavior and answers [3]. To improve knowledge about IS, researchers have studied its association with IQ [7,8,9,10,11], verbal communication [12,13,14], anxiety [15,16,17,18], depression [19, 20], social desirability [21], and self-esteem [22, 23] All of these variables have been found to correlate with suggestibility, validating the IS model [3]. In the study of Baxter, Jackson, and Bain [23], all IS indexes were found to be significantly higher in participants scoring low in self-esteem

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