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Promising to tell the truth makes 8- to 16-year-olds more honest.
- Source :
-
Behavioral Sciences & the Law . Nov/Dec2010, Vol. 28 Issue 6, p801-811. 11p. 1 Graph. - Publication Year :
- 2010
-
Abstract
- Techniques commonly used to increase truth-telling in most North American jurisdiction courts include requiring witnesses to discuss the morality of truth- and lie-telling and to promise to tell the truth prior to testifying. While promising to tell the truth successfully decreases younger children's lie-telling, the influence of discussing the morality of honesty and promising to tell the truth on adolescents' statements has remained unexamined. In Experiment 1, 108 youngsters, aged 8-16 years, were left alone in the room and asked not to peek at the answers to a test. The majority of participants peeked at the test answers and then lied about their transgression. More importantly, participants were eight times more likely to change their response from a lie to the truth after promising to tell the truth. Experiment 2 confirmed that the results of Experiment 1 were not solely due to repeated questioning or the moral discussion of truth- and lie-telling. These results suggest that, while promising to tell the truth influences the truth-telling behaviors of adolescents, a moral discussion of truth and lies does not. Legal implications are discussed. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Subjects :
- *TRUTH
*SKEPTICISM
*WITNESSES
*LEGAL evidence
*EYEWITNESS identification
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 07353936
- Volume :
- 28
- Issue :
- 6
- Database :
- Academic Search Index
- Journal :
- Behavioral Sciences & the Law
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 55450546
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1002/bsl.960