Mother Knows Best: Effects of Relationship Status and Interviewer Bias on Children′s Memory

Abstract

This study examined whether interviewer status or a preconceived bias affect: (a) children′s memory and suggestibility or (b) adults′ descriptions of children′s reports. Forty 4-year-olds participated in play activities with a research assistant. Each child was then interviewed either by the child′s own mother or by an unfamiliar female. Interviewers were instructed to find out what happened (free interview), but half of the interviewers were misled (biased) about the play activities prior to the interview. To examine how accurately adults recount children′s reports, the interviewers were asked to write postinterview descriptions of the play session. Children were then questioned by the interviewer again, who asked a predetermined set of questions (structured interview). Analyses revealed that during the free interview, questioning styles of mothers and strangers differed in several ways: mothers were more task-oriented, whereas strangers spent more time building rapport and were more open-ended in their approach. Biased compared to unbiased interviewers asked more questions about the misinformation provided. Children′s free recall accuracy suffered (e.g., they minimized what occurred, made more order errors) when they were interviewed by biased versus unbiased strangers but not when interviewed by biased versus unbiased mothers. The interviewers′ descriptions of the children′s experiences were generally correct, although mothers reported more correct details than strangers about certain categories of information. Exposure to the biasing misinformation led to greater inaccuracy in interviewers′ descriptions. During the structured interview, children were less susceptible to suggestions of abuse when questioned by their mothers than by strangers. The findings are discussed in relation to concerns about children′s eyewitness memory and adults′ interviews of children.