Chapter 5 - Factors Affecting the Reliability of Children’s Forensic Reports

Question 1

Autobiographical memory
refers to…

Answer 1

memory about personally experienced events.

Question 2

Being able to recall your date of birth is an example of…

Answer 2

Semantic autobiographical memory

Question 3

Attending your graduation ceremony is an example of…

Answer 3

Episodic autobiographical memory

Question 4

How can we differentiate autobiographical memory from episodic memory?

Answer 4

• Memories most likely to be forgotten OR do not involve the ‘self’ = episodic memories
• Meaning & significance of the event is important for AM

Question 5

At what age do children show the ability to talk about past events?

Answer 5

By the age of 2, as children begin to develop stable self-concepts and the language of narrative

Question 6

At the age of 2, children’s reports often require a great deal of…

Answer 6

adult prompting
EX. “Tell me what happened”

Question 7

At what age are children able to provide more complete and elaborate accounts of past events?

Answer 7

By the age of 6
Ex. schooling & parent talk

Question 8

What may compromise the accuracy of a child’s report?

Answer 8

if the child is interviewed about confusing events or events that contradict what they know

Question 9

Briefly explain the experiment done by Kulkofsky, Wang & Ceci (2008)

Answer 9

• had preschool-aged children engage in a pizza-baking activity that included a number of unusual, non-schematic elements (e.g., the pizza was baked in a refrigerator)
• One week later, children’s free recall statements were 24% incorrect
• Spontaneous statements are not completely error-free

Question 10

What are scripts?

Answer 10

generalized accounts of what usually happens in a given situation

Question 11

What is example of an adult script?

Answer 11

• Going to a restaurant
• Waiting to be seated
• Ordering the food
• Paying the bill

Question 12

Why are young children are better at reporting scripts?

Answer 12

They find it difficult to distinguish between specific episodes of repeated events

Question 13

Why might the frequent questioning of children in child abuse cases pose challenges for them in providing accurate and comprehensive explanations of specific incidents?

Answer 13

their dependence on scripts in such situations could make it more difficult for them to find accurate and comprehensive explanations of particular incidents

Question 14

Briefly explain the study done by Simcock & Hayne (2002)

Answer 14

• exposed children who were 27, 33, and 39 months old to a event and then tested their memories 6 months and 1 year later

Question 15

What were the results from the Simcock & Hayne (2002) experiment?

Answer 15

• no child used words to describe the event that had not been part of the child’s vocabulary at the time of the original event
• results suggest that later verbal recall of an event is, in part, dependent on children’s language ability at the time of encoding

Question 16

Briefly explain the study done by Peterson et al (1996)

Answer 16

• examined children’s (2-13yo) LTM for ER visits
• Interview immediately after visit to ER and then again either 6 months to 5 years later

Results:
- Preschoolers = fewer details than older children
- as young as 3-year-olds recalled some central information

Question 17

What is the definition of suggestibility?

Answer 17

• the degree to which children’s encoding, storage, retrieval, and reporting of events can be influenced by a range of social and psychological factors

Question 18

Why are leading questions likely used with children?

Answer 18

their spontaneous reports provide very little detail about the specific event

Question 19

In general are children more accurate when answering direct questions or open-ended questions?

Answer 19

Children are less accurate when answering direct questions compared to open-ended questions

Question 20

What is interviewer bias?

Answer 20

interviewers who mold the interview to maximize disclosures consistent with their preconceived notions about what transpired.

Question 21

What are some suggestive techniques interviewer bias may be communicated through?

Answer 21

1. Positive & negative reinforcement
   -ex. withholding benefits such as trips to the restroom for not disclosing
2. Peer or parental pressure
   - telling the child that their classmates have already disclosed
3. Negative emotional tone
   - urging the child to help keep the defendant in jail
4. Generating stereotypes about the accused
   - referring to them as “bad person”
5. Repeating questions

Question 22

Briefly describe the study done by Garven et al (2000)

Answer 22

• children asked to recall details from when a visitor named “Paco” came to their classroom

Group A: Plausible events (“Did Paco break a toy”) AND fantastic events
(“Did Paco take you to a farm in a helicopter?”)
Results: agreed to 13% of plausible questions and 5% of fantastic questions

Group B: Same events & negative feedback to “no” responses AND positive to “yes”
Results: Falsely agreed to plausible items 35% and fantastic items 52%

Question 23

What is child sexual abuse accommodation syndrome (CSAAS)?

Answer 23

• reluctant to disclose abuse because of motivational reasons such as
  being ashamed, scared, or embarrassed
• abused children may delay abuse disclosure, deny abuse when asked, make partial disclosures, and retract abuse disclosures

Question 24

Is it a common for adults who have experienced CSA to disclose the incidents during their childhood?

Answer 24

• Adults report they never told anyone during childhood about CSA
• Few brought to attention of authorities
• Support Summit’s notion of secrecy