Tell me what I want to hear

Is it possible that we craft the answers we want to hear when interviewing children? This post is inspired by two articles I read about investigative interviews with children. One article conducted a research study where they manipulated situations of suggestive questioning and noted an increase in the child's inaccuracy of responses. Another tested how children would respond if they were reinforced with praise such as "good, yes, thank you" when they gave inaccurate information and punished with disapproving statements like "hmmm...that's not right" when they gave accurate information.

To describe the situations discussed in these articles, I am going to talk about a completely fictional situation (outside the scope of an investigation). But one that many parents may have faced.

It's 2020, many homes have safety features such as recording devices throughout their home or on their doorbell. Well, for the purpose of this situation, let's say that this family, the Bottles, have a video monitor in their kitchen.

Well one day, Walter Bottle was walking through the kitchen when he saw a tray of cookies on the counter. Walter decided to hop up on the counter and grab just one cookie. No harm done, he proceeded to eat the cookie and headed to the yard to play. A few minutes later Chardonnay Bottle, Walter's younger sister walks into the kitchen and also sees the cookies on the counter. Chardonnay reached for the cookies but knocked the whole tray onto the ground. She then proceeded to eat three of them. After that, she took off out of the kitchen and into the back yard with Walter.

Mrs. Merlot Bottle walked into the kitchen a few minutes later. What a surprise to find all the cookies on the floor and four missing from the tray. Mr. Ale Bottle went to the back yard and asked Walter to come in the house. Walter sat across from his parents knowing that he had eaten a cookie without asking; he was filled with guilt.

Cute story so far, but now we get into suggestive questioning and how it can have an affect on a child's accuracy.

Walter's mom asked, "why did you eat the cookies?" He responded, "I was hungry." His dad said, "you know you have to ask. Look at the mess you have made!" Walter stayed silent, still eaten with guilt. Mrs. Bottle said, "why didn't you come get me when you made this mess?" Walter thought for a bit (Remember, suggestive questioning. Walter didn't make the mess, but every question has assumed he did.) "I don't remember making the mess." he said. Mr. Bottle said "Walter, we do not lie in this house. When mom asks you a question, you tell her the truth." His mom said again, "Walter, you know you can come get me if there is a mess. I won't be mad, but I want to make sure that you are safe. Climbing on the counter, eating all the cookies, and making a mess on the floor, is not safe." Walter then said "I'm sorry for a making a mess. I won't do it again." His parents responded with smiles and praise. They said, "thank you for telling the truth. Let's clean this up together so you can go play."

What a heartfelt story right? Great parenting, they didn't yell, they didn't punish Walter, they even helped him clean up the mess. Only downfall here, Walter didn't make the mess. Walter gave an inaccurate answer to his parents question and was reinforced with smiles and praise. When Walter actually told the truth he was met with disapproving looks and statements. So his parents have no idea, but they have actually just increased the probability of Walter using inaccurate statements in the future and decreased the probability of Walter telling the truth in the future.

Later on, Walter's parents were looking through the kitchen video feed and found that Chardonnay was actually the cookie culprit. They were able to talk Walter through the whole situation and let him know that parents make mistakes too. Imaginary Walter did not go on to be a serial liar.

The point of this post is that as a behavior analysts, we have the tools to use reinforcement and punishment to promote accuracy. However, there is a fine line when there is no evidence to show what is an accurate or inaccurate statement. I went on to read about training programs used with investigators who question children. There are many barriers standing in the way of promoting effective interviewing strategies to all who work with children. A few being lack of time, money, and situations to practice. If you are interested in learning more about effective strategies when questioning children, I highly recommend these two articles I am dropping below.

Powell, M. B. (2008). Designing Effective Training Programs for Investigative Interviewers of Children. Current Issues in Criminal Justice, 20(2), 189-208. doi:10.1080/10345329.2008.12035804

Sparling, J., Wilder, D. A., Kondash, J., Boyle, M., & Compton, M. (2011). Effects Of Interviewer Behavior On Accuracy Of Children's Responses. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 44(3), 587-592. doi:10.1901/jaba.2011.44-587