ADULTS IMPACT ON THE SUGGESTIBILITY OF PRESCHOOLERS RECOLLECTIONS

Seventy-seven preschoolers (45 boys and 32 girls) between the ages of 4 and 6 years, were randomly assigned to one of three groups and asked to draw a picture that they then discussed with their teacher. During a subsequent review, participants in the first two groups were told b y an adult-either their teacher or a researcher unfamiliar to them-tha t the child's teacher had touched the child on the leg during their di scussion. In fact, the teacher had touched the child's arm. Participan ts in the control condition reviewed the some activities with the rese archer but all references to touching were omitted. Seven to 12 days l ater, a second researcher questioned participants about whether they h ad been touched by their teacher during the target event and, if so, w here. Overall, the results of this study indicated that the majority o f preschool-aged children ore not susceptible to misinformation presen ted by an adult when that misinformation concerns an actual event in w hich the child was personally involved. A closer examination indicated that children were more likely to appear suggestible when they were a sked leading questions regarding the target event. Age also appeared t o be a factor in children's suggestibility with results suggesting tha t there may be a threshold age-approximately four and a half years-aft er which children's suggestibility is diminished. All results further indicated a relationship between suggestibility and children's overall memory performance. However, these results did not indicate that chil dren's susceptibility to suggestion is affected by their relationship to the adult presenting the suggestion.