The good, the bad, and the ugly: accuracy, inaccuracy, and elaboration in preschoolers' reports about a past event

Abstract

This study investigated how suggestions provided to interviewers prior to questioning preschoolers affected children's reports of past events. Children aged 3–5 years (N=20) were exposed to a series of game-like events that varied on a number of dimensions: the events involved being physically touched or not, carrying out unusual or usual actions, and acting or observing another child act. One and two months after the events, every child received two interviews from separate adults who had been briefed with either correct or incorrect information about each event. Results indicated that suggestions to interviewers determined the questions they asked, and that younger children acquiesced more often than older children to questions based on inaccurate information. Children of all ages agreed more readily with questions about unusual than usual actions, and younger children's reports became more inaccurate over time. These trends may have relevance to the accuracy of young children's eyewitness testimony. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.