Work

Adults’ perceptions of children’s referentially ambiguous responses

Year: 2018

Type: article

Abstract: = 295) interpretations of child witnesses' referentially ambiguous "yes" and "no" responses to "Do You Know/Remember (DYK/R) if/whether" questions (e.g., "Do you know if it was blue?"). Participants were presented with transcripts from child sexual abuse cases modified based on question format (DYK/R vs. Direct) and child response type (Yes, No, I don't know) in a between subjects design. We assessed whether adults recognized that children's ambiguous responses were unclear, and if not, how they were interpreting children's responses compared to the control (Direct) conditions. More specifically, we assessed whether adults interpreted children's responses as answering the explicit (e.g., "No, I don't remember") or implicit (e.g., "No, it wasn't blue") question. Participants virtually never recognized ambiguous responses as unclear, and their interpretations were influenced by the attorney's question and child's response type. In sum, these results suggest that DYK/R questions often lead to misinterpretation, resulting in miscommunication.

Source: Psychology Crime and Law

DOI: 10.1080/1068316x.2018.1552757

Authors: Breanne E. Wylie, Thomas D. Lyon, Alison M. O'Connor, Christina L. Aidy, Angela D. Evans

Institutions: Brock University, University of Southern California, York University

Language: English

Topic: Deception detection and forensic psychology

Subfield: Social Psychology

Field: Psychology

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Peace, justice, and strong institutions

Open Access status: green

Funders: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development