Allegations of wrongdoing: The effects of reinforcement on children's mundane and fantastic claims

S. Garven, J. M. Wood, R. S. Malpass, and J. S. Shaw (1998) found that: the interviewing techniques used in the McMartin Preschool case can induce pre school children to make false allegations of wrongdoing against a classroom visitor. In this study, 2 specific components of the McMartin interviews, reinforcement and cowitness information, were examined more closely in inte rviews of 120 children, ages 5 to 7 years. Children who received reinforcem ent made 35% false allegations against a classroom visitor, compared with 1 2% made by controls. When questioned about "fantastic" events (e.g., being taken from school in a helicopter), children receiving reinforcement made 5 2%, false allegations, compared with 5% made by controls. In a second inter view, children repeated the allegations even when reinforcement had been di scontinued. The findings indicate that reinforcement can swiftly induce chi ldren to make: persistent false allegations of wrongdoing.