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Getting to Know You: Familiarity, Stereotypes, and Children's Eyewitness Memory.
- Source :
-
Behavioral Sciences & the Law . Jan/Feb2016, Vol. 34 Issue 1, p74-94. 21p. 2 Charts. - Publication Year :
- 2016
-
Abstract
- The present study concerned how the acquisition of social information, specifically knowledge about personal characteristics, influences young children's memory and suggestibility. Effects of two sources of knowledge about a target person were systematically examined: familiarity and stereotypes. Children, aged 4-5 and 7-9 years (N = 145), were randomly assigned, per age group, to experimental conditions based on a familiarity (6 hours vs. no prior exposure) × stereotype (negative depiction as messy and clumsy vs. no stereotype) factorial design. Children then watched the target person engage in a target event (a series of contests) at a preschool ("Camp Ingrid"). The children's memory and suggestibility about the target person and target event were tested after a delay of 2 weeks. Results indicated that the negative stereotype resulted in an increase in children's correct responses both to free-recall stereotype-related questions (when children were unfamiliar with the target person) and to closed-ended questions overall (for younger children). However, the stereotype was associated with greater error to stereotype-related closed-ended questions. Moreover, familiarity increased children's accuracy to closed-ended questions. Implications for theory and application are discussed. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Subjects :
- *FAMILIARITY (Psychology)
*STEREOTYPES
*CHILD witnesses
*PRESCHOOLS
*AGE groups
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 07353936
- Volume :
- 34
- Issue :
- 1
- Database :
- Academic Search Index
- Journal :
- Behavioral Sciences & the Law
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 114853761
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1002/bsl.2233