Recency Tendency: Responses to Forced‐Choice Questions |
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| Authors: | Mehdi B Mehrani Carole Peterson |
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| Institution: | 1. English Department, University of Neyshabur, Neyshabur, Iran;2. Department of Psychology, Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada |
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| Abstract: | The present study was conducted to investigate whether forced‐choice questions would lead to any particular tendency in young children's responses. Two experiments were conducted in which 3‐ to 5‐year‐olds children were shown a short animation and then were asked a set of two‐option, forced‐choice questions. Consistent findings were obtained: (i) Forced‐choice questions influenced children's responses; (ii) Children displayed a consistent ‘recency tendency.’ That is, they tended to choose the second option in forced‐choice questions; (iii) This tendency grew weaker as children aged. The findings suggest that forced‐choice questions carry some suggestibility load and can bias children's responses. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. |
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