Children's eyewitness reports after exposure to misinformation from parents

This study examined how misleading suggestions from parents influenced children's eyewitness reports. Children (3 to 8 years old) participated in science demonstrations, listened to their parents read a story that described experienced and nonexperienced events, and subsequently discussed the science experience in two follow-up interviews. Many children described fictitious events in response to open-ended prompts, and there were no age differences in suggestibility during this phase of the interview. Accuracy declined markedly in response to direct questions, especially for the younger children. Although the older children retracted many of their false reports after receiving source-monitoring instructions, the younger children did not. Path analyses indicated that acquiescence, free recall, and source monitoring all contribute to mediating patterns of suggestibility across age. Results indicate that judgments about the accuracy of children's testimony must consider the possibility of exposure to misinformation prior to formal interviews.     

Social influence in investigative interviews: The effects of reciprocity

This study examined how a principle of social influence—reciprocity—affects the informational elements produced in an investigative interview. Participants from 3 ethnic/cultural groups recruited from the community either received a bottle of water or not prior to their engaging in an investigative interview, in which they either told the truth or lied about having committed a mock crime. Three different informational elements (Relevant details, Irrelevant details, and Plausibility) were coded from their responses, and rapport in the interaction was coded from video. Offering water facilitated greater rapport and influenced the informational elements. These effects were moderated by Veracity condition: For liars, offering water produced more Relevant details and greater Plausibility in the statements and this effect was mediated by rapport. Ethnicity/culture did not moderate these findings. These findings suggested the applicability of principles of social influence in investigative interviews across cultures/ethnicities and had theoretical, empirical, and practical implications.     

Do Cognitive Interview Instructions Contribute to False Beliefs and Memories?

To examine whether exposing people to false events using instructions taken from the cognitive interview creates false beliefs and false memories, we conducted an experiment where participants took part in two sessions. First, they rated how confident they were that they had experienced certain childhood events and their memories of those events; they also rated how plausible they thought the events were. Second, 2 weeks later, participants were exposed to two of three false target events: one high, one moderate, and one low plausibility. For the first event, participants were instructed to either report everything or mentally reinstate the event context. For the second event, participants received both instructions. The third event was the control event about which participants received no instructions. Finally, participants rated their confidence and memories the second time. The results showed that the cognitive interview instructions had little to no effect on the development of false beliefs and false memories. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Backlash for high self-promotion at hiring depends on candidates' gender and age

Previous research has shown that evaluators react negatively to intense, high levels of self-promotion during the interview, in particular when displayed by female candidates, presumably because these behaviors violate the female gender stereotype of being modest and putting others first. We expand this focus on a single social category and examine the joint effects of gender and age on reactions to high self-promotion/low modesty, as both gender and age stereotypes contain normative expectations regarding assertiveness and humility. Results of our experimental study point out two groups at risk of backlash, older women and younger men. While both older female and younger male candidates engaging in high self-promotion were seen as competent, they were regarded as less interpersonally warm, received lower interview performance ratings, and were less likely to be hired. These results provide evidence for the importance of applying an intersectional lens on the effects of self-promotion at hiring. Their implications for theory and practice as well as recommendations for future research are discussed.     

USE OF SOCIAL-SKILLS TRAINING IN THE TREATMENT OF EXTREME ANXIETY AND DEFICIENT VERBAL SKILLS IN THE JOB-INTERVIEW SETTING

A 30-year-old recent college graduate, exhibiting extreme anxiety and deficient verbal skills in job interviews, was treated with a social-skills training procedure that included instructions, modelling, behavior rehearsal, and videotape feedback. Three target behaviors—focused responses, overt coping statements, and subject-generated questions—were presented using a multiple-baseline design. Galvanic skin-response activity was monitored during pre- and posttraining in vivo job interviews. In addition, independent judges unobstrusively rated the subject's social-communicative behaviors in his temporary work-setting before and after training. Training resulted in expected changes for all three target behaviors and a decrease in the rate of speech disturbances. Physiological data supported the subject's report that training enabled him to deal with his anxiety more effectively during job interviews. Training was found to generalize to novel interview questions and different interviewers. Furthermore, unobtrusive measures of eye contact, fluency of speech, appropriateness of verbal content, and composure supported the subject's report that training generalized to his daily social interactions on the job.     

The Effects of Practice on Children's Ability to Apply Ground Rules in a Narrative Interview

Despite the widespread use of ground rules in forensic interview guidelines, it is unknown whether children retain and apply these rules throughout narrative interviews. We evaluated the capacity of 260 five- to nine-year-olds to utilize three ground rules. At the beginning of the interview all children heard the rules; half also practiced them. Children then responded to open-ended prompts about a repeated laboratory event and were assessed for their application of the rules. Logistic regressions revealed that practice only benefitted the use of the “don't know” rule. Although the children accurately answered “don't understand” and “correct me” practice questions, practice appeared to give no greater benefit than just hearing the rules. Results suggest that the current format of ground rule practice in interview guidelines is appropriate for the “don't know” rule, but the other rules may require more extensive practice with this age group. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Helping children correctly say "I don't know" to unanswerable questions

Adults ask children questions in a variety of contexts, for example, in the classroom, in the forensic context, or in experimental research. In such situations children will inevitably be asked some questions to which they do not know the answer, because they do not have the required information ("unanswerable" questions). When asked unanswerable questions, it is important that children indicate that they do not have the required information to provide an answer. These 2 studies investigated whether preinterview instructions (Experiment 1) or establishing a memory narrative (Experiment 2) helped children correctly indicate a lack of knowledge to unanswerable questions. In both studies, 6- and 8-year-olds participated in a classroom-based event about which they were subsequently interviewed. Some of the questions were answerable, and some were unanswerable. Results showed that preinterview instructions increased the number of younger children's appropriate "don't know" responses to unanswerable questions, without decreasing correct responses to answerable questions. This suggests that demand characteristics affect children's tendency correctly to say "I don't know." The opportunity to provide a narrative account increased children's appropriate "don't know" responses to unanswerable yes/no questions, and increased the number of younger children's correct responses to answerable questions. This suggests that cognitive factors also contribute to children's tendency correctly to say "I don't know." These results have implications for any context where adults need to obtain information from children through questioning, for example, a health practitioner asking about a medical condition, in classroom discourse, in the investigative interview, and in developmental psychology research.     

A component analysis of job interview training for young adults with autism spectrum disorder

The job interview is a vital component to acquire employment. Individuals with autism spectrum disorder may experience difficulties with job interviews due to notable deficits in social and communication skills. We evaluated the relative impact of several components of a job interview training package on six participants' responses to commonly asked interview questions. We used a multiple baseline design across participants to present the following components: written instructions, rehearsal and video self‐feedback with a commercially available training program, and verbal feedback delivered by the experimenter. Results demonstrated that all participants required an additional behavioral skills training session to meet our mastery criterion. However, once training was complete, all participants showed generalized performance when the interview questions were presented in a varied format and by a novel interviewer outside of the training environment. In addition, their performance was maintained at follow‐up.     

SMALL GROUP BEHAVIORAL TRAINING TO IMPROVE THE JOB INTERVIEW SKILLS REPERTOIRE OF MILDLY RETARDED ADOLESCENTS

Four retarded adolescents, enrolled in a short-term residential treatment program, received behavioral job interview skills training. Although potentially employable, each was unable to present himself effectively in standard employment interviews. Treatment consisted of a series of behavioral group sessions using instructions, modeling and rehearsal procedures to increase, in multiple baseline fashion, such skills as the adolescents' ability to disclose positive information about their experience and background, convey interest in the position and direct relevant questions to an interviewer. Effectiveness of treatment for each client was assessed by: (1) Objective ratings of performance during individual, structured role-play job interviews following each treatment group; (2) objective ratings of pre- and posttraining performance during tape recorded in vivo generalization job interviews at a fast-food restaurant; and (3) global evaluations of pre- and posttraining in vivo generalization interviews made by experienced personnel interviewers unfamiliar with the nature of the treatment. The results indicated that potentially employable retarded citizens can be successfully taught appropriate job interview behavior using a small group behavioral procedure. The need for such techniques in community and rehabilitation centers for retarded citizens and other clinical populations is discussed.     

Future thinking improves prospective memory performance and plan enactment in older adults

Efficient intention formation might improve prospective memory by reducing the need for resource-demanding strategic processes during the delayed performance interval. The present study set out to test this assumption and provides the first empirical assessment of whether imagining a future action improves prospective memory performance equivalently at different stages of the adult lifespan. Thus, younger (n?=?40) and older (n?=?40) adults were asked to complete the Dresden Breakfast Task, which required them to prepare breakfast in accordance with a set of rules and time restrictions. All participants began by generating a plan for later enactment; however, after making this plan, half of the participants were required to imagine themselves completing the task in the future (future thinking condition), while the other half received standard instructions (control condition). As expected, overall younger adults outperformed older adults. Moreover, both older and younger adults benefited equally from future thinking instructions, as reflected in a higher proportion of prospective memory responses and more accurate plan execution. Thus, for both younger and older adults, imagining the specific visual–spatial context in which an intention will later be executed may serve as an easy-to-implement strategy that enhances prospective memory function in everyday life.     

How Effective is the Enhanced Cognitive Interview when Aiding Recall Retrieval of Older Adults including Memory for Conversation?

The percentage of older adults in the general population is growing. As a result, older adults are coming more frequently into contact with the Criminal Justice System as witnesses to and victims of crime. Older adults are also over‐represented in crimes where conversation detail is of particular importance to an investigation (e.g. distraction burglary). The present study therefore examined the efficacy of cognitive interview (CI) compared with structured interview in improving the recall of an event by older witnesses, specifically conversational detail. Young adults (19–54 years old), young‐old adults (60–74 years old), and old‐old adults (75+ years old) were asked to watch a short film of a laptop theft and were then, after a 1.5 hour delay, randomly allocated to one of two interview conditions. It was found that the CI significantly increased recall of all age groups, without increasing the amount of incorrect or confabulated information reported. The individuals in the young adult and the young‐old adult conditions were found to remember significantly more than the individuals from the old‐old adult condition, without decreasing the accuracy of the information. The CI enhanced memory for conversation gist, person and action detail. Results will be discussed in relation to interviewing and investigating practices. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Instructional manipulations and age differences in memory: now you see them, now you don't.

The instructions for most explicit memory tests use language that emphasizes the memorial component of the task. This language may put older adults at a disadvantage relative to younger adults because older adults believe that their memories have deteriorated. Consequently, typical explicit memory tests may overestimate age-related decline in cognitive performance. In 2 experiments, older and younger adults performed a memory test on newly learned trivia. In both experiments, age differences were obtained when the instructions emphasized the memory component of the task (memory emphasis) but not when the instructions did not emphasize memory (memory neutral). These findings suggest that aspects of the testing situation. such as experimental instructions, may exaggerate age differences in memory performance and need to be considered when designing studies investigating age differences in memory.     

Exploring collaborative problem solving in adulthood

Collaborative problem solving occurs in situations in which two or more individuals cooperate in appraising, representing, and solving a variety of cognitive tasks. Collaborative groups are the context for much everyday cognitive activity in adulthood. Collaboration has been explored as a means through which older adults may maintain high levels of performance, perhaps compensating for individual-level cognitive and neurological decline. This study explored the effects of collaboration (group size) and adult age on solving both fixed- and unrestricted-alternatives 20 Questions tasks. Younger (M=24.3 years) and older (M=67.9 years) adults were randomly assigned to one of three homogeneous group size conditions: individuals, dyads, and tetrads. Results indicated some dissociation between individual-level performance (poorer for older adults) and collaborative performance (better for older adults). For the fixed-alternatives task, older adults produced more of the relatively inefficient hypothesis-scanning questions than did younger adults. In contrast, older collaborative groups produced more of the efficient constraint-seeking questions than hhpothesis-scanning questions, and an amount equivalent to that of younger adults. Overall performance for the difficult unrestricted-alternatives task was less efficient for both younger and older adults. The roles of task type, group characteristics, and adult age are discussed.     

Social influence in investigative interviews: The effects of authority on informational elements produced in interviews and written statements

This study examined the effect of a principle of social influence—authority—on the informational elements in an investigative interview. Community participants told the truth or lied about a mock crime in a high or low authority context. Informational elements were coded from their oral responses in the interviews and written responses in a statement prior to the interviews. Rapport was rated by the interviewers and participants. The authority condition produced effects on the informational elements in both the interviews and written statements but mainly for truth tellers. Rapport also had direct effects on the informational elements but authority did not affect rapport and rapport did not mediate the effect of authority on the informational elements. These findings had theoretical, empirical, and practical implications.     

Effect of instructional set on responses to the Geriatric Depression Scale

A community sample of elderly subjects (M age = 74 years) was randomly assigned to four variations in reference group instructions on the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS). In one condition, subjects received no instructions as to reference group, which is the standard instructional format of the test. In the other three conditions, subjects were asked to compare themselves with one of three reference groups: age group peers, adults in general, or themselves at a younger age. Results indicated that the GDS is robust with respect to variation in reference group instruction.     

The effect of long‐term training on police officers' use of open and closed questions in field investigative interviews of children (FIIC)

This study intends to assess the effect of long‐term training on police officers' use of open and closed questions in investigative interviews of children. One hundred field investigative interviews of children were divided into two groups based on the interviewers' level of competence (training and experience). The police officers' questions were classified into groups of either open or closed. In all interviews, the mean numbers were 20 open and 217 closed questions, corresponding to an open–closed question ratio of 1:10. The most competent interviewers used 22 open questions and the less competent used 19 open questions, but the difference was not statistically significant. Analyses of variance (ANOVA) showed a significant effect of question but no main effect of competence. ANOVA revealed a descending number of open questions during the interviews, whilst the distribution of closed questions showed an inverted U distribution with most frequent use of closed questions in the middle part of the interviews. Possible strategies of enhancing the use of open questions are discussed. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Effect of Different Types of Leading Questions on Adult Eyewitnesses with Mild Intellectual Disabilities

Adults with an intellectual disability (ID) are often considered poor witnesses; however, this may depend on the type of questions asked during investigative interviews. We examined the impact of four different types of misleading questions commonly used in interviews. These questions varied in their specificity, presumptive knowledge and structure (open or closed). Forty‐one adults with a mild ID watched a short film; they were then interviewed about what had happened. Half of the questions contained misleading information. In a later recognition test, participants showed a misinformation effect: they correctly recognised more items about which they had received control information than the items about which they had received misleading information. Closer inspection of the data revealed that both closed and open presumptive questions generated the largest misinformation effects. These findings highlight the vulnerability of adults with an ID to misleading questions, specifically those that presume certain information to be true. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Optimal recall in early and late adulthood

Mäntylä & Nilsson (1983) recently presented a striking empirical phenomenon demonstrating a practically perfect recall of verbal materials encountered at one single trial and without specific instructions to learn the items. The purpose of the study to be presented in this article was to investigate whether older adults are capable of performing at the same high level of recall as younger adults did in the Mäntylä & Nilsson study. Type of instructions and number of retrieval cues were included in the experimental design, in addition to the age factor. Although the results indicated a superior memory performance of younger adults as compared to older adults, the latter group of subjects demonstrated an extremely high level of recall as well. Both age groups showed quite similar recall patterns in the sense that no interaction effects between the age factor and the other independent variables were obtained. The data were discussed relative to qualitatively and quantitatively based explanations of age differences in memory.