MUGGED BY THE FACTS - CHILDRENS ABILITY TO DISTINGUISH THEIR OWN AND WITNESSES PERSPECTIVES ON TELEVISED CRIME EVENTS

This study investigates 5-to 9-year-old children's ability to differen tiate between their own and a television witness's perspective on tele vised crime events. Previous research on legal concept development, on perspective-taking, and on children's processing of implicit informat ion in television all lead to the prediction that distinguishing betwe en one's own and on independent witness's knowledge should be challeng ing to younger children and should improve during the age range tested . Children viewed programs in which their own and the witness's opport unities to observe the perpetrator of a crime were either congruent or discrepant. Children were asked to choose whom the witness would iden tify as the culprit. In the congruent condition, responses were genera lly accurate; in the discrepant condition, the younger children were p rone to conflate their own perspective with that of the witness. The f indings are discussed in terms of the interaction of developing social cognitive skills, television viewing and legal understanding.