Abstract

COSTA, André  and  PINHO, Maria Salomé. Sugestionabilidade interrogativa em crianças de 8 e 9 anos de idade. Aná. Psicológica [online]. 2010, vol.28, n.1, pp.193-208. ISSN 0870-8231.

To study the influence of the variables age, intelligence, memory, general anxiety and social desirability in suggestibility, 8 and 9-year-old children were assessed using the Bonn Test of Statement Suggestibility (BTSS). The effect of the variables memory and non-verbal intelligence was studied in 145 children while, in a subsample of 74 children, the variables verbal intelligence, general anxiety and social desirability were also taken into account besides the ones previously referred to. Eight-year-old children are more suggestible than older children. In the eight-year-old group, those with better performances in non-verbal intelligence (measured by Raven’s Coloured Progressive Matrices - RCPM), and in the BTSS story recall are less suggestible compared to the children with worse performances in these tests. Similarly, the worse the performance achieved by nine-year-old children in RCPM, in the BTSS story recall and in the subtests of information, vocabulary and arithmetic of WISC-III are, the more suggestible they are. The children belonging to this age group who show high social desirability (evaluated by RCMAS) are also more suggestible. These results are discussed according to its relevance in the scope of the forensic field.

Keywords : General anxiety; Intelligence; Memory; Social desirability; Suggestibility.

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