Coaching, truth induction, and young maltreated children's false allegations and false denials.

16. Coaching, truth induction, and young maltreated children’s false allegations and false denials

Truth induction in young maltreated children: the effects of oath-taking and reassurance on true and false disclosures.

OBJECTIVE Two studies examined the effects of the oath or reassurance ("truth induction") on 5- to 7-year-old maltreated children's true and false reports of a minor transgression. METHODS In both studies an interviewer elicited a promise to tell the truth, reassured children that they would not get in trouble for disclosing the transgression, or gave no instructions before questioning the ch...

"That never happened": adults' discernment of children's true and false memory reports.

Adults' evaluations of children's reports can determine whether legal proceedings are undertaken and whether they ultimately lead to justice. The current study involved 92 undergraduates and 35 laypersons who viewed and evaluated videotaped interviews of 3- and 5-year-olds providing true or false memory reports. The children's reports fell into the following categories based on a 2 (event type:...

False Allegations of Sexual Abuse

Review and Critique Almost every allegation of sexual abuse raises a question about its veracity. Although there has always been some skepticism about sexual abuse, many professionals working in this area perceive the current reaction as one of "backlash." The truth of children's allegations of sexual abuse is being challenged; the techniques of professionals working in the sexual abuse field a...

Origins of verbal logic: spontaneous denials by two- and three-year olds.

'Children two to three years of age can spontaneously correct false statea ments and affirm true ones in a modified sentence verification paradigm. Such performances imply that very young children display knowledge of the rules of correspondence between language and reality (truth conditions) which are central to propositional logic, at an age when logical development in cognition has not been ...