Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Psychology

Faculty/School

Faculty of Science

First Advisor

Kim Roberts

Advisor Role

Thesis Supervisor

Abstract

In Study one, Fifty young children (3- to 5- year-olds) watched a video and were then interviewed about the video by a Knowledgeable interviewer, who had watched the video with the children, and a Naive interviewer, who had not seen the video. Children were asked yes/no recognition questions, half of which contained misleading suggestions. After five to seven days, children were asked the same yes/no recognition questions by a third Naïve interviewer. Children then completed a source-monitoring task Followed by three theory-of-mind tests. Study two followed the same methodologies as Study one but with an increased sample size (72 children), more differentiated interviewers, an increased number of target items in the video, and forced-choice questions were used instead of yes/no questions. We predicted that (a) children who passed the theory-of-mind tasks would have more accurate source-monitoring scores than children who failed the theory-of-mind tasks, and (b) children who passed the theory-of-mind tasks would be more resistant to the suggestions of the Naive interviewer than the Knowledgeable interviewer. Although children's source monitoring scores were quite low, children more often correctly identified the video as the source of their memories than either of the interviewers. It was found that children who failed the theory-of-mind task reported suggestions from both interviewers equally often, while children who passed were unexpectedly more resistant to suggestions from the Knowledgeable interviewer than the Nav̐e interviewer. However, in Study 1, as children's source-monitoring skills increased, they were more likely to resist suggestions from the Naive interviewer than the Knowledgeable interviewer.

Convocation Year

2005

Convocation Season

Fall

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