Title:
More Than Suggestion: The Effect of Interviewing Techniques From the McMartin Preschool Case.
Authors:
Garven, Sena1
Wood, James M.1
Malpass, Roy S.1
Jaohn S. Shaw III, Roy S.1
Source:
Journal of Applied Psychology. Jun98, Vol. 83 Issue 3, p347-359. 13p. 1 Chart, 1 Graph.
Document Type:
Article
Subject Terms:
INTERVIEWS
PRESCHOOL children
CHILD psychology
APPLIED psychology
DEVELOPMENTAL psychology
PSYCHOLOGY
Abstract:
Child interviewing techniques derived from transcripts of the McMartin Preschool case were found to be substantially more effective than simple suggestive questions at inducing preschool children to make false allegations against a classroom visitor. Thirty-six children interviewed with McMartin techniques made 58% accusations, compared with 17% for 30 children interviewed with suggestive questions. Social influence and reinforcement appeared to be more powerful determinants of children's answers than simple suggestive questions. The SIRR model is proposed to explain how false statements may be elicited from children or adults. Categories identified in the SIRR model are suggestive questions, social influence, reinforcement, and removal from direct experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Target of Outcasts
Justice for Bernard Baran.
Authors:
Pollitt, Katha
Source:
Nation, February 21 2000, Vol. 270 Issue 7, p10- 10; 1p,2000, 1p.
Abstract:
On January 30, 1985, 19-year-old Bernard Baran was convicted of molesting five young children at the Early Childhood Development Center (ECDC) in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, where he worked as a teacher's aide. Baran was the first person convicted in a spate of trials relating to sex abuse in day care centers and satanic-ritual abuse that swept the United States in the mid-1980s. The majority of those convicted have since been released, but Baran, who was sentenced to two concurrent life sentences, recently passed the 15th anniversary of his conviction in Bridgewater