Stereotype induction and disapproval in preschoolers and schoolchildren memory

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17058/psiunisc.v8i1.18492

Keywords:

Memory, Children’s suggestibility, False memories, Stereotype induction

Abstract

The present study investigates the impact of stereotype induction and disapproval on children's memory. Forty preschoolers participated (23 girls, between 4 and 6 years old (M = 62.7 months, SD = 8.03) and 36 schoolchildren (17 girls), between 7 and 8 years old (M = 95.4 months, SD = 6.21) who received a visit from a “scientist” who who held a science´s demonstration. Transmissions of stereotype and disapproval were carried out via videos. Interviews were conducted to assess children's memory of the event. The main results indicate that schoolchildren remembered more accurate information than preschoolers. Furthermore, there is a positive relationship between recall of accurate memories and stereotype-related information, which is moderated by the age of the participants. The main contribution is the empirical investigation of the impact of age on the accuracy of children's memory reports about a target event, and the relationship between accurate memory and false memories.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biographies

Marina Pante, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ)

Professora do Curso de Psicologia na UFRJ e psicóloga clínica. Doutora em Psicologia pelo Programa de Pós-Graduação em Psicologia da Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (PPG-UFRGS), integrando o Laboratório de Psicologia Experimental, Neurociências e Comportamento (LPNeC).

Lilian Milnitsky Stein, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS)

Psicóloga com doutorado em Cognitive Psychology - University of Arizona, EUA e pós-doutorado Universidad de Barcelona, Espanha. Pesquisadora associada ao Centro de Direitos Humanos da Universidade de Oslo e da Fundação IMED. Possui 30 anos de trajetória acadêmica e de pesquisa como professora titular da Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul. Também integra o Grupo de Assessoramento Técnico da CTI (Convention against Torture Inniciative), organização ligada à ONU.

Mariana Sanseverino Dillenburg, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS)

Psicóloga formada na PUCRS; Mestre em psicologia clínica, sob orientação da Prof. Margareth da Silva Oliveira na PUCRS; Especialista em Terapias Comportamentais Contextuais pelo Centro de Estudos da Família e do Indivíduo e pelo Centro Integral de Psicoterapias Contextuales (CEFI/CIPCO). Psicóloga clínica de adultos. Área de atuação: Psicologia clínica, Terapias Comportamentais Contextuais.

References

Amodio, D. (2014). The neuroscience of prejudice and stereotyping. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 15(10), 670–682. https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn3800

Blasbalg, U., Hershkowitz, I., Lamb, M. E., Karni-Visel, Y., & Ahern, E. C. (2019). Is interviewer support associated with the reduced reluctance and enhanced informativeness of alleged child abuse victims?. Law and human behavior, 43(2), 156-165. https://doi.org/10.1037/lhb0000303

Bodenhausen, G. (2005). The Role of Stereotypes in Decision-Making Processes. Medical Decision Making, 25(1), 112-118. https://doi.org/10.1177/0272989x04273800

Brainerd, C. J., Reyna, V. F., & Holliday, R. E. (2018). Developmental reversals in false memory: Development is complementary, not compensatory. Developmental psychology, 54(9), 1773-1784. https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0000554

Calado, B., Otgaar, H., & Muris, P. (2018). Are children better witnesses than adolescents? Developmental trends in different false memory paradigms. Journal of Child Custody, 15(4), 330-348. https://doi.org/10.1080/15379418.2019.1568948

Ceci, S., & Bruck, M. (1993). Suggestibility of the child witness: A historical review and synthesis. Psychological Bulletin, 113(3), 403-439. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.113.3.403

Ceci, S., & Bruck, M. (1995). Jeopardy in the courtroom: A scientific analysis of children’s testimony. American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/10180-000

Dickinson, J. J., & Poole, D. A. (2000). Efficient coding of eyewitness narratives: a comparison of syntactic unit and word count procedures. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, & Computers, 32(4), 537-545. https://doi.org/10.3758/bf03200826

Gagnon, K., & Cyr, M. (2017). Sexual abuse and preschoolers: Forensic details in regard of question types. Child Abuse & Neglect, 67, 109-118. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2017.02.022

Goodman, G. S., Jones, O., & McLeod, C. (2017). Is there consensus about children’s memory and suggestibility?. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 32(6), 926-939. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260516657358

Johnson, P. O., & Neyman, J. (1936). Tests of certain linear hypotheses and their applications to some educational problems. Statistical Research Memoirs, 1, 57-93.

Klemfuss, J. Z., & Olaguez, A. P. (2020). Individual differences in children’s suggestibility: An updated review. Journal of child sexual abuse, 29(2), 158-182. https://doi.org/10.1080/10538712.2018.1508108

Knippenberg, A. V., Dijksterhuis, A., & Vermeulen, D. (1999). Judgement and memory of a criminal act: the effects of stereotypes and cognitive load. European Journal of Social Psychology, 29(2-3), 191-201. https://doi.org/10.1002/(sici)1099-0992(199903/05)29:2/3%3C191::aid-ejsp923%3E3.0.co;2-o

Lamb, M. E., Brown, D. A., Hershkowitz, I., Orbach, Y., & Esplin, P. W. (2018). Tell me what happened: Questioning children about abuse. John Wiley & Sons. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118881248

Leichtman, M. D., & Ceci, S. J. (1995). The effect of stereotypes and suggestions on preschoolers’ reports. Development Psychology, 31(4), 568-578. https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.31.4.568

Matute, H., Blanco, F., & Díaz-Lago, M. (2019). Learning mechanisms underlying accurate and biased contingency judgments. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Learning and Cognition, 45(4), 373-389. https://doi.org/10.1037/xan0000222

Mueller, D. H., Compo, N. S., Molina, J., Byron, A., & Pimentel, P. S. (2015). Productive and counterproductive interviewing techniques: Do law enforcement investigators know the difference? Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, 21(3), 295-308. https://doi.org/10.1037/law0000047

Paz‐Alonso, P. M., & Goodman, G. S. (2016). Developmental differences across middle childhood in memory and suggestibility for negative and positive events. Behavioral Sciences & the Law, 34(1), 30-54. https://doi.org/10.1002/bsl.2239

Piaget, J. (1965). The moral judgment of the child. Free Press.

Poole, D. A., & Lamb, M. E. (1998). Investigative interviews of children: A guide for helping professionals. American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/10301-000

Reyna, V. F., & Brainerd, C. J. (1995). Fuzzy-trace theory: An interim synthesis. Learning and Individual Differences, 7(1), 1-75. https://doi.org/10.1016/1041-6080(95)90031-4

Rottman, J., Young, L., & Kelemen, D. (2017). The impact of testimony on children’s moralization of novel actions. Emotion, 17(5), 811-827. https://doi.org/10.1037/emo0000276

Schechory, M., Nachson, I., & Glicksohn, J. (2010). Effect of stereotypes and suggestions on memory. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, 54(1), 113-130. https://doi.org/10.1177/0306624x08322217

Schein, C., & Gray, K. (2018). The theory of dyadic morality: Reinventing moral judgment by redefining harm. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 22(1), 32-70. https://doi.org/10.1177/1088868317698288

Schneider, W., & Bjorklund, D. F. (1998). Memory. In W. Damon, D. Kuhn, & R. S. Siegler (Eds.), Handbook of child psychology: Cognition, perception, and language (pp. 467-522). Wiley.

Schwartz, B. L. (2020). Memory: Foundations and applications. SAGE Publications, Incorporated. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781526421036842523

Stangor, C., & McMillan, D. (1992). Memory for Expectancy-Congruent and Expectancy-Incongruent Information: A Review of the Social and Social Developmental Literatures. Psychological Bulletin, 111(1), 42-61. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.111.1.42

Stein, L. M., & Pergher, G. K. (2001). Criando falsas memórias em adultos por meio de palavras associadas. Psicologia: reflexão e crítica, 14(2), 353-366. https://doi.org/10.1590/s0102-79722001000200010

Zollo, L. (2020). The consumers’ emotional dog learns to persuade its rational tail: Toward a social intuitionist framework of ethical consumption. Journal of Business Ethics, 168(2), 295-313. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-019-04420-4

Downloads

Published

2024-01-16

How to Cite

Pante, M., Stein, L. M., & Dillenburg, M. S. (2024). Stereotype induction and disapproval in preschoolers and schoolchildren memory. PSI UNISC, 8(1), 333-347. https://doi.org/10.17058/psiunisc.v8i1.18492

Issue

Vol. 8 No. 1 (2024)

Section

Articles

License

The submission of originals to this journal implies the transfer, by the authors, of the printed and digital publication rights. The copyrights for the published articles are those of the author, with periodical rights on the first publication. Authors may only use the same results in other publications clearly indicating this journal as the medium of the original publication. Because we are an open access journal, we allow free use of articles in educational and scientific applications provided the source is cited under the Creative Commons CC-BY license.

Licença Creative Commons Creative Commons Atribuição 4.0 Internacional.