Abstract

Historically there has been a bias against relying on testimony provided by children. This view is based on a belief that young children are especially vulnerable to misleading questions. Moreover it has been considered that children are susceptible to misleading postevent informations. This study examined the effect of misleading questions in children's testimony. In experiment 1 children(5 year olds)were presented with misleading questions and nonmisleading questions about what they experienced. Results showed that children in misleading condition made more biased responses. Children who heard the misleading questions focused on new information considering given information as a matter of fact, so they made more errors. Experiment 2 examined the effect of the misleading postevent informations in children's report. Children(5 year olds) were given misleading and nonmisleading questions(information) after the event. On a retest two day later they were asked about the event again. The results of this experiment revealed that children who had received misleading questions report the biased answers. These results showed that misleading questions had a large impact on children's report. The results from two experiments were discussed within the content of investigations and the associated psychological implication.