IS THIS MAN YOUR DADDY - SUGGESTIBILITY IN CHILDRENS EYEWITNESS IDENTIFICATION OF A FAMILY MEMBER

Studies of natural language development suggest that overextension of family memberships terms, such as daddy or papa, occurs in children in the second year of life, but rarely persists thereafter. However, in British Courts it is common for the testimony of 3- and even 4-year-ol ds to be dismissed on the grounds that these children may not be relia bly identifying their father or stepfather when they claim that daddy was the perpetrator of abuse. This study examined whether 1-year-oIds could be persuaded to confirm that a stranger who was labelled as dadd y was their own father. A mock interview with experienced disclosure i nterviewers was conducted. Five of the 17 children-all from blue-colla r families-misidentified a photograph of their own father when an iden tification question was repeated. Rather than undermining the validity of all preschoolers testimony, it is suggested that the responses of some children to apparently mundane questions of fact are influenced b y contextual factors, including repetition of the question and the per ceived omniscience of the interviewer.