Effects of Victim,Defendant, and Juror Gender on Decisions in Child Sexual Assault Cases1

We examined the combined influence of juror, victim, and defendant gender on jurors’ decisions in child sexual abuse cases. Mock jurors read scenarios of an assault case involving a man or woman defendant accused of molesting a 15‐year‐old boy or girl. Jurors then rendered verdicts and rated the defendant's and victim's believability and responsibility for the abuse. Female jurors were generally more pro‐victim in case judgments than were male jurors. Additionally, a woman perpetrator was evaluated more leniently than was a man perpetrator, especially by male jurors when the victim was a boy. Case judgments were unrelated to jurors’ social conservatism, sexism, or attitudes toward homosexuality. Results have implications for understanding social perceptions of mixed‐ and same‐gender abuse involving adolescent victims, and juror decision making in man‐ and woman‐perpetrated child sexual assault cases.     

Scene consistency in object and background perception

Does knowledge about which objects and settings tend to co-occur affect how people interpret an image? The effects of consistency on perception were investigated using manipulated photographs containing a foreground object that was either semantically consistent or inconsistent with its setting. In four experiments, participants reported the foreground object, the setting, or both after seeing each picture for 80 ms followed by a mask. In Experiment 1, objects were identified more accurately in a consistent than an inconsistent setting. In Experiment 2, backgrounds were identified more accurately when they contained a consistent rather than an inconsistent foreground object. In Experiment 3, objects were presented without backgrounds and backgrounds without objects; comparison with the other experiments indicated that objects were identified better in isolation than when presented with a background, but there was no difference in accuracy for backgrounds whether they appeared with a foreground object or not. Finally, in Experiment 4, consistency effects remained when both objects and backgrounds were reported. Semantic consistency information is available when a scene is glimpsed briefly and affects both object and background perception. Objects and their settings are processed interactively and not in isolation.     

The role of attachment and cognitive inhibition in children's memory and suggestibility for a stressful event

There has been increasing interest in children's abilities to report memories of and resist misleading suggestions about distressing events. Individual differences among children and their parents may provide important insight into principles that govern children's eyewitness memory and suggestibility for such experiences. In the present study, 51 children between the ages of 3 and 7 years were interviewed about an inoculation after a delay of approximately 2 weeks. Results indicated that parents' attachment Avoidance was associated with children's distress during the inoculation. Parental attachment Anxiety and the interaction between parental Avoidance and children's stress predicted children's memory for the inoculation. Cognitive inhibition was also a significant predictor of children's memory errors and suggestibility. Theoretical implications concerning effects of stress and individual differences on children's eyewitness memory and suggestibility are discussed.     

Family Coping During Hospitalization of Children with Chronic Illnesses

Information about family coping when a child with a chronic illness is hospitalized for procedures related to his or her illness is needed. The current research presents the results of two pilot studies designed to assess family resilience and coping, during a hospitalization for medical procedures for a child with a chronic condition. Sixty-one parents participated in the first study and reported on their child’s hospital experiences and completed a survey designed to assess family coping. Twelve mothers and one grandmother completed interviews examining their perceptions of their coping, siblings’ coping, and coping of the child with an illness for study two. Results of Study 1 indicated parents’ perceived the family as resilient. Cognitive strategies were used to see the hospital stay as positive for the child or to accept what had to occur as having the possibility of improving the child’s life. Some of the mothers mentioned financial stress as being difficult for the family. Results of Study 2 also supported resilient functioning for mothers, siblings, and children with illnesses. Mothers reported they stayed strong for their child. Siblings could serve as protectors, helpers, and companions and were described as adapting well. Children with illnesses used distraction (e.g., play, art, music) to facilitate their coping. Findings of this study indicated parents perceived the family as coping well and supporting the child with an illness. Future research will need to assess perceptions of siblings and fathers and assess family members’ perspectives at different times over the course of children’s illnesses.     

Identifying learning patterns of children at risk for Specific Reading Disability

Differences in learning patterns of vocabulary acquisition in children at risk (+SRD) and not at risk (?SRD) for Specific Reading Disability (SRD) were examined using a microdevelopmental paradigm applied to the multi‐trial Foreign Language Learning Task (FLLT; Baddeley et al., 1995). The FLLT was administered to 905 children from rural Chitonga‐speaking Zambia. A multi‐group Latent Growth Curve Model (LGCM) was implemented to study interindividual differences in intraindividual change across trials. Results showed that the +SRD group recalled fewer words correctly in the first trial, learned at a slower rate during the subsequent trials, and demonstrated a more linear learning pattern compared to the ?SRD group. This study illustrates the promise of LGCM applied to multi‐trial learning tasks, by isolating three components of the learning process (initial recall, rate of learning, and functional pattern of learning). Implications of this microdevelopmental approach to SRD research in low‐to‐middle income countries are discussed.     

Consistency effects between objects in scenes

How does context influence the perception of objects in scenes? Objects appear in a given setting with surrounding objects. Do objects in scenes exert contextual influences on each other? Do these influences interact with background consistency? In three experiments, we investigated the role of object-to-object context on object and scene perception. Objects (Experiments 1 and 3) and backgrounds (Experiment 2) were reported more accurately when the objects and their settings were consistent than when they were inconsistent, regardless of the number of foreground objects. In Experiment 3, related objects (from the same setting) were reported more accurately than were unrelated objects (from different settings), independently of consistency with the background. Consistent with an interactive model of scene processing, both object-to-object context and object-background context affect object perception.     

Arousal at encoding,arousal at retrieval,interviewer support,and children's memory for a mild stressor

The relations among children's physiological arousal at encoding and retrieval, interviewer‐provided social support and children's memory for a mild stressor were examined in 109 five‐ and six‐year‐olds. The children came to a research laboratory and watched a fear eliciting video clip. A week later, their memory for the video clip was tested by either a supportive or nonsupportive interviewer. While watching the video and completing the memory interview, children's heart rate was monitored. Increased heart rate at encoding was associated with fewer incorrect responses. In contrast, increased heart rate at retrieval was associated with poorer memory, but only when the interviewer was nonsupportive. Heart rate was unrelated to memory when the interviewer was supportive. Results suggest that arousal at encoding and retrieval have different implications for children's memory for a mild stressor, particularly in nonsupportive interview contexts. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Does valence matter? Effects of negativity on children’s early understanding of the truth and lies

Early deceptive behavior often involves acts of wrongdoings on the part of children. As a result, it has often been assumed, although not tested directly, that children are better at identifying lies about wrongdoing than lies about other activities. We tested this assumption in two studies. In Study 1, 67 3- to 5-year-olds viewed vignettes in which a character truthfully or falsely claimed to have committed a good or bad act. Children were biased to label claims that the character had committed a good act as the truth and claims that the character had committed a bad act as lies. In Study 2, 51 4- to 6-year-olds viewed vignettes in which characters either admitted or denied committing a good or bad act. Children were better at identifying truth-tellers and liars when the acts were good. Results suggest that young children initially overgeneralize the concept of lie to include all negative acts and the concept of the truth to include all good acts and only gradually make a distinction between act valence and honesty. As a result, including wrongdoing in scenarios to test children's early understanding of the meaning of lying is likely to underestimate children's abilities.     

ASSESSING PREFERENCE FOR SOCIAL INTERACTION IN CHILDREN DIAGNOSED WITH AUTISM

In this study, preference for social interaction was investigated for three young children diagnosed with autism. The study consisted of conducting a multiple stimulus without replacement preference assessment to determine a hierarchy of preference for the interactions and conducting a reinforcer assessment. Results showed several types of social interaction functioned as reinforcers. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.