Work

Young children’s competency to take the oath: Effects of task, maltreatment, and age.

Year: 2009

Type: article

Abstract: This study examined maltreated and non-maltreated children's (N = 183) emerging understanding of "truth" and "lie," terms about which they are quizzed to qualify as competent to testify. Four- to six-year-old children were asked to accept or reject true and false (T/F) statements, label T/F statements as the "truth" or "a lie," label T/F statements as "good" or "bad," and label "truth" and "lie" as "good" or "bad." The youngest children were at ceiling in accepting/rejecting T/F statements. The labeling tasks revealed improvement with age and children performed similarly across the tasks. Most children were better able to evaluate "truth" than "lie." Maltreated children exhibited somewhat different response patterns, suggesting greater sensitivity to the immorality of lying.

Source: Law and Human Behavior

DOI: 10.1007/s10979-009-9177-9

Authors: Thomas D. Lyon, Nathalie Carrick, Jodi A. Quas

Institutions: University of Southern California, California State University, Fullerton, University of California, Irvine

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

Funder: Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development