Adults' judgments of children's coached reports. 2006

Victoria Talwar, and Kang Lee, and Nicholas Bala, and R C L Lindsay
McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. victoria.talwar@mcgill.ca

This study investigated adults' judgments of the honesty of children's coached true and fabricated mock testimony. Adults saw video clips of children testifying in a mock court about a true or fabricated event in their lives. They were asked to make an assessment of the truthfulness of the testimony, and respond to questions about their perception of children's credibility. Half of the adults saw children testifying after a competence examination, and the other half saw children testifying without a competence examination. Overall, girls were rated as more competent than boys, and their testimony was more likely to be believed. Younger children were more likely to be rated as incompetent than older children. A factor analysis of adults' responses revealed six factors which significantly predicted adults' overall assessment of children's credibility, and their evaluations of children's competence to testify. Adults' detection accuracy was at chance, with the majority of children rated as truthful. Viewing the competency examination and cross-examination did not improve the adults' detection accuracy. However, seeing the cross-examination made adults' less likely to believe children's testimony. The implications of these results for the judicial system are discussed.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries
D007600 Judgment The process of discovering or asserting an objective or intrinsic relation between two objects or concepts; a faculty or power that enables a person to make judgments; the process of bringing to light and asserting the implicit meaning of a concept; a critical evaluation of a person or situation. Judgement,Judgements,Judgments
D008192 Deception The act of deceiving or the fact of being deceived. False Allegations,Lying,Hoax,Allegation, False,Allegations, False,False Allegation
D008297 Male Males
D011795 Surveys and Questionnaires Collections of data obtained from voluntary subjects. The information usually takes the form of answers to questions, or suggestions. Community Survey,Nonrespondent,Questionnaire,Questionnaires,Respondent,Survey,Survey Method,Survey Methods,Surveys,Baseline Survey,Community Surveys,Methodology, Survey,Nonrespondents,Questionnaire Design,Randomized Response Technique,Repeated Rounds of Survey,Respondents,Survey Methodology,Baseline Surveys,Design, Questionnaire,Designs, Questionnaire,Methods, Survey,Questionnaire Designs,Questionnaires and Surveys,Randomized Response Techniques,Response Technique, Randomized,Response Techniques, Randomized,Survey, Baseline,Survey, Community,Surveys, Baseline,Surveys, Community,Techniques, Randomized Response
D002648 Child A person 6 to 12 years of age. An individual 2 to 5 years old is CHILD, PRESCHOOL. Children
D005260 Female Females
D006801 Humans Members of the species Homo sapiens. Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D000328 Adult A person having attained full growth or maturity. Adults are of 19 through 44 years of age. For a person between 19 and 24 years of age, YOUNG ADULT is available. Adults
D014743 Videotape Recording Recording of visual and sometimes sound signals on magnetic tape. Tape Recording, Video,Videotapes,Recording, Video Tape,Recording, Videotape,Recordings, Video Tape,Recordings, Videotape,Tape Recordings, Video,Video Tape Recording,Video Tape Recordings,Videotape,Videotape Recordings

Related Publications

Victoria Talwar, and Kang Lee, and Nicholas Bala, and R C L Lindsay
January 2019, Psychology, crime & law : PC & L,
Victoria Talwar, and Kang Lee, and Nicholas Bala, and R C L Lindsay
September 2012, Journal of experimental child psychology,
Victoria Talwar, and Kang Lee, and Nicholas Bala, and R C L Lindsay
January 2010, Developmental science,
Victoria Talwar, and Kang Lee, and Nicholas Bala, and R C L Lindsay
March 2022, Journal of experimental child psychology,
Victoria Talwar, and Kang Lee, and Nicholas Bala, and R C L Lindsay
November 2002, Developmental psychology,
Victoria Talwar, and Kang Lee, and Nicholas Bala, and R C L Lindsay
October 1971, Child development,
Victoria Talwar, and Kang Lee, and Nicholas Bala, and R C L Lindsay
March 1970, Child development,
Victoria Talwar, and Kang Lee, and Nicholas Bala, and R C L Lindsay
October 2020, Health psychology research,
Victoria Talwar, and Kang Lee, and Nicholas Bala, and R C L Lindsay
December 2017, Journal of experimental child psychology,
Victoria Talwar, and Kang Lee, and Nicholas Bala, and R C L Lindsay
August 2015, Perceptual and motor skills,
Copied contents to your clipboard!