The ability of psychologists, lawyers and psychology students to predict children's performance in memory and suggestibility experiments

Abstract

The aim of this article was to explore whether psychologists, lawyers, and psychology students would be able to predict how children behave in memory and suggestibility experiments and if this ability is associated with different measures of experience. The participants (N = 63) were to predict the results of a series of published research studies pertaining to children's memory and suggestibility. The results indicated that the ability of the participants to predict the behavior of children was overall low and unrelated to experience. It was concluded that professionals who should be able to assess children's functioning as witnesses may not be able to do so.