Ceci S J, Huffman M L
Department of Human Development and Family Studies, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA.
J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 1997 Jul;36(7):948-58. doi: 10.1097/00004583-199707000-00017.
In this series of studies, the authors sought to determine some of the cognitive and social boundary conditions that can undermine the accuracy of young children's reporting. Care was taken to include events and interviewing variables that more accurately reflect the experiences of children in real-world investigations of alleged sexual abuse. Videotaped interviews with preschool children were presented to experts to determine how adept they are at distinguishing between true and false accounts.
All the studies were designed to investigate the susceptibility to suggestion in young preschool children. The difference between studies was the form of that suggestion and the nature of the event to which the children were exposed. All studies measured recall accuracy, false assent rate, and the change in these outcomes over time and/or successive interviews.
Very young preschool children (aged 3 and 4 years) were significantly more vulnerable to suggestions than were older preschool children (aged 5 and 6 years). The number of interviews and the length of the interval over which they were presented resulted in the greatest level of suggestibility.
While some types of events (negative, genital, salient) were more difficult to implant in children's statements, some children appeared to internalize the false suggestions and resisted debriefing. These children's false statements were quite convincing to professionals, who were unable to distinguish between true and false accounts.
在这一系列研究中，作者试图确定一些可能会削弱幼儿报告准确性的认知和社会边界条件。研究中谨慎纳入了一些事件和访谈变量，这些变量能更准确地反映儿童在现实世界中遭受性虐待指控调查时的经历。向专家播放了对学龄前儿童的录像访谈，以确定他们辨别真假陈述的能力如何。
所有研究旨在调查学龄前儿童对暗示的易感性。各研究的差异在于暗示的形式以及儿童所接触事件的性质。所有研究均测量了回忆准确性、错误认同率，以及这些结果随时间和/或连续访谈的变化情况。
非常年幼的学龄前儿童（3岁和4岁）比年龄稍大的学龄前儿童（5岁和6岁）更容易受到暗示影响。访谈次数以及访谈间隔时间的长短导致了最高程度的易受暗示性。
虽然某些类型的事件（负面的、涉及生殖器的、突出的）更难植入儿童的陈述中，但一些儿童似乎将错误暗示内化并抗拒事后询问。这些儿童的虚假陈述对专业人员来说颇具说服力，专业人员无法辨别真假陈述。
