Abstract
A basic but largely neglected issue in research on the reliability of children's testimony is the impact of certain questioning tactics (e.g., use of legalese and socioemotional intimidation) on the accuracy of children's reports. In the present study, 5- to 7-year-old children were interviewed about a standardized play event with free-recall cues and detailed questions that were specific or misleading. Linguistic complexity of questions (complex or simple) and socioemotional context of interview (supportive or intimidating) were varied between subjects. Results indicated that children were significantly less accurate in reporting the event when questioned with complex, developmentally inappropriate questions rather than simple questions, yet children rarely voiced their comprehension failures. In addition, children interviewed by a warm, supportive interviewer were more resistant to misleading questions about the event than were children interviewed in an intimidating manner. Theoretical interpretations and implications for investigative interviewing and policy are discussed.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Andersen, P. A. (1985). Nonverbal immediacy in interpersonal communication. In A. W. Siegman & S. Feldstein (Eds.),Multichannel integrations of nonverbal behavior (pp. 1–36). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Brennan, M., & Brennan, R. E. (1988).Strange language: Child victims under cross examination. Wagga Wagga, New South Wales: Riverina Literacy Centre.
Burleson, B. R., Albrecht, T. L., Goldsmith, D. J., & Sarason, I. G. (1994). Introduction: The communication of social support. In B. R. Burleson, T. L. Albrecht, & I. G. Sarason (Eds.),Communication of social support (pp. xi-xxx). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Byrnes, J. P., & Duff, M. A. (1989). Young children's comprehension of modal expressions.Cognitive Development, 4, 369–387.
Ceci, S. J., & Bruck, M. (1993). The suggestibility of the child witness: A historical review and synthesis.Psychological Bulletin, 113, 403–439.
Charrow, R. P., & Charrow, V. R. (1979). Making legal language understandable: A psycholinguistic study of jury instructions.Columbia Law Review, 79, 1306–1374.
Choong, J., & McMahon, J. (1983). Comparison of scores obtained on the PPVT and the PPVT-R.Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders, 48, 40–43.
Dent, H., & Flin, R. (1992).Children as witnesses. Chichester, England: Wiley.
DePaulo, B. M., & Coleman, L. M. (1986). Talking to children, foreigners, and retarded adults.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51, 945–959.
Drew, P. (1990). Strategies in the contest between lawyer and witness in cross-examination. In J. N. Levi & A. G. Walker (Eds.),Language in the judicial process (pp. 3–38). New York: Plenum Press.
Dunn, L. M., & Dunn, L. M. (1981). Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised. Manual for Forms L and M. Circle Pines, MN: American Guidance Service.
Fridlund, A. J., Ekman, P., & Oster, H. (1987). Facial expressions of emotion: Review of literature, 1970–1983. In A. W. Siegman & S. Feldstein (Eds.),Nonverbal behavior and communication (pp. 143–224).
Goodman, G. S., & Bottoms, B. L. (Eds.) (1993).Understanding and improving children's testimony. New York: Guilford.
Goodman, G. S., Bottoms, B. L., Schwartz-Kenney, B. M., & Rudy, L. (1991). Children's testimony for a stressful event: Improving children's reports.Journal of Narrative and Life History, 1, 69–99.
Goodman, G. S., Levine, M., Melton, G. B., & Ogden, D. W. (1991). Child witnesses and the confrontation clause: The American Psychological brief inMaryland v. Craig.Law and Human Behavior, 15, 13–29.
Goodman, G. S., Rudy, L., Bottoms, B. L., & Aman, C. (1990). Children's concerns and memory: Ecological issues in the study of children's eyewitness testimony. In R. Fivush & J. Hudson (Eds.),Knowing and remembering in young children. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Goodman, G. S., & Schwartz-Kenney, B. M. (1992). Why knowing a child's age is not enough: Influences of cognitive, social, and emotional factors on children's testimony. In R. Flin & H. Dent (Eds.),Children as witnesses (pp. 15–32). London: Wiley.
Goodman, G. S., Taub, E. P., Jones, D. P. H., England, P., Port, L. K. Rudy, L., & Prado, L. (1992). Testifying in criminal court. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development. Serial No. 229, Vol. 57(#5).
Green, G. M. (1990). Linguistic analysis of conversation as evidence regarding the interpretation of speech events. In J. N. Levi & A. G. Walker (Eds.),Language in the judicial process (pp. 247–277). New York: Plenum Press.
Grice, H. P. (1975). Logic and conversation. In P. Cole and J. Morgan (Eds.),Syntax and semantics, Vol. III:Speech acts. New York: Academic Press.
Hall, D. F., Loftus, E. F., & Tousignant, J. P. (1984). Postevent information and changes in recollection for a natural event. In G. L. Wells & E. F. Loftus (Eds.),Eyewitness testimony: Psychological perspectives (pp. 124–141). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Harris, M. J., & Rosenthal, R. (1985). Mediation of interpersonal expectancy effects: 31 meta-analyses.Psychological Bulletin, 97, 363–386.
Hirst, W., & Weil, J. (1982). Acquisition of epistemic and deontic meanings of modals.Journal of Child Language, 9, 659–666.
Hughes, M., & Grieve, R. (1980). On asking children bizarre questions.First Language, 1, 149–160.
Hymes, D. H. (1972). Models of the interaction of language and social life. In J. J. Gumperz & D. H. Hymes (Eds.),Directions in sociolinguistics (pp. 35–71). New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.
Idaho v. Wright, 116 Idaho 382, 775 P. 2d 1224 (1989).
Inhelder, B., & Piaget, J. (1958).The growth of logical thinking from childhood to adolescence. New York: Basic Books.
Kelley, D. H., & Gorham, J. (1988). Effects of immediacy on recall of information.Communication Education, 37, 198–207.
Kendon, A. (1977). Spatial organization in social encounters: TheF-formation system. In A. Kendon (Ed.),Studies in the behavior of social interaction. Lisse, Holland: Peter deRidder Press.
King, M. A., & Yuille, J. C. (1987). Suggestibility and the child witness. In S. J. Ceci, M. P. Toglia, & D. F. Ross (Eds.),Children's eyewitness memory (pp. 24–35). New York: Springer-Verlag.
Labov, W. (1969). The logic of non-standard English.Georgetown University round table on languages and linguistics. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.
Labov, W., & Fanshel, D. (1977).Therapeutic discourse: Psychotherapy as conversation. New York: Academic Press.
Lakoff, R. T. (1989). My life in court. In D. Tannen & J. E. Alatis (Eds.),Georgetown University round table on languages and linguistics (pp. 171–179). Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.
Levi, J. N. (1990). The study of language in the judicial process. In J. N. Levi & A. G. Walker (Eds.),Language in the judicial process (pp. 3–38). New York: Plenum.
Levinson, S. C. (1987).Pragmatics. Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Loftus, E. F. (1979).Eyewitness testimony. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Lund, N. J., & Duchan, J. F. (1988).Assessing children's language in naturalistic contexts. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Markman, E. M. (1977). Realizing that you don't understand: A preliminary investigation.Child Development, 48, 986–992.
Markman, E. M. (1979). Realizing that you don't understand: Elementary school children's awareness of inconsistencies.Child Development, 50, 643–655.
Marquis, K. H., Marshall, J., & Oskamp, S. (1972). Testimony validity as a function of question form, atmosphere, and item difficulty.Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 2, 167–186.
Mehrabian, M. (1969). Some referents and measures of nonverbal behavior.Behavioral Research Methods and Instruments, 1, 213–217.
Mehrabian, A. (1971). Verbal and nonverbal interaction of strangers in a waiting situation.Journal of Experimental Research in Personality, 5, 127–138.
Mehrabian, A. (1972).Nonverbal communication. Chicago: Aldine-Atherton.
Mellinkoff, D. (1963).The language of the law. Boston: Little, Brown.
Moston, S. (1987). The suggestibility of children in interview studies.First Language, 7, 67–78.
Moston, S. (1992). Social support and children's eyewitness testimony. In H. Dent & R. Flin (Eds.),Children as witnesses. Chichester: Wiley.
Moston, S., & Engleberg, T. (1992). The effects of social support on children's eyewitness testimony.Applied Cognitive Psychology, 6, 61–75.
Newmark, C. S. (1989).Major psychological assessment instruments, Vol. 2. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.
O'Barr, W. M. (1981). The language of the law. In C. A. Ferguson & S. B. Health (Eds.),Language in the U.S.A. (pp. 386–406). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
O'Barr, W. M. (1982).Linguistic evidence: Language, power, and strategy in the courtroom. New York: Academic Press.
Ochs, E. (1979). What child language can contribute to pragmatics. In E. Ochs & B. B. Schieffelin (Eds.),Developmental pragmatics (pp. 1–20). New York: Academic Press.
Patterson, M. L., & Edinger, J. A. (1987). A functional analysis of space in social interaction. In A. W. Siegman & S. Feldstein (Eds.),Nonverbal behavior and communication, 2d. ed. (pp. 523–562). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Perry, N. W., McAuliff, B. D., Tam, P., Claycomb, L., Dostal, C., & Flanagan, C. (1994).When lawyers question children: Is justice served? Unpublished manuscript, Creighton University.
Perry, N. W., & Wrightsman, L. (1991).The child witness: Legal issues and dilemmas. Newbury Park, CA: Sage
Reichard, R. D. (1993). Dysfunctional families in dysfunctional systems? Why child advocacy centers may not be enough.Journal of Child Sexual Abuse, 2, 103–109.
Rosenthal, R., & Jacobson, L. (1968).Pygmalion in the classroom: Teacher expectation and student intellectual development. New York: Holt, Rinehart, & Winston.
Rudy, L., & Goodman, G. S. (1991). Effects of participation on children's reports: Implications for children's testimony.Developmental Psychology, 27, 527–538.
Saywitz, K. J., Goodman, G. S., Nicholas, E., & Moan, S. (1991). Children's memories of a physical examination involving genital touch: Implications for reports of child sexual abuse.Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 59, 682–691.
Saywitz, K. J., & Snyder, L. (1993). Improving children's testimony with preparation. In G. S. Goodman & B. L. Bottoms (Eds.),Understanding and improving children's testimony, pp. 147–168. New York: Guilford.
Sarason, I. G., & Sarason, B. R. (1986). Experimentally provided social support.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 50, 1222–1225.
Sarason, B. R., Sarason, I. G., & Pierce, G. R. (Eds.) (1990).Social support: An interactional view. New York: Wiley.
Siegman, A. W. (1987). The telltale voice: Nonverbal messages of verbal communication. In A. W. Siegman & S. Feldstein (Eds.),Nonverbal behavior and communication, 2d ed. (pp. 351–434). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Sorenson, E. (1993). A rose by any name would smell as sweet: Enhancing the functioning child advocacy center.Journal of Child Sexual Abuse, 2, 111–113.
Tannen, D. (1990).You just don't understand: Women and men in conversation. New York: William Morrow and Co.
Tardy, C. H. (1994). Counteracting task-induced stress: Studies of instrumental and emotional support in problem-solving contexts. In B. R. Burleson, T. L. Albrecht, & I. G. Sarason (Eds.),Communication of social support (pp. 71–87). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Underwager, R., & Wakefield, H. (1990).The real world of child interrogations. Springfield, IL: Thomas.
Venzor, E. (1980).The effects of client nonverbal behaviors and problem severity upon clinical judgments. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Texas Tech University.
Vygotsky, L. (1934/1978).Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Walker, A. G. (1987). Linguistic manipulation, power, and the legal setting. In Leah Kedar (Ed.),Power through discourse (pp. 57–80). Norwood, NJ: Ablex.
Walker, A. G. (1993). Questioning young children in court: A linguistic case study.Law and Human Behavior, 17, 59–81.
Walker, A. G. (1994).Handbook on questioning children: A linguistic perspective. Washington, DC: American Bar Association Center on Children and the Law.
Waterman, J., Kelly, R., Oliveri, M. K., & McCord, J. (1993).Behind the playground walls: Sexual abuse in preschools. New York: Guilford.
Whitehurst, G. J. (1982). Language development. In B. B. Wolman & G. Stricker (Eds.),Handbook of developmental psychology (pp. 367–386). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Yuille, J. C., Hunter, R., Joffe, R., & Zaparniuk, J. (1993). Interviewing children in sexual abuse cases. In G. S. Goodman & B. L. Bottoms (Eds.),Understanding and improving children's testimony (pp. 95–115). New York: Guilford.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
About this article
Cite this article
Carter, C.A., Bottoms, B.L. & Levine, M. Linguistic and socioemotional influences on the accuracy of children's reports. Law Hum Behav 20, 335–358 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01499027
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01499027