Doctoral Dissertation Research: Does priming honesty elicit truthful disclosures from children regarding adult wrongdoing?

儿童往往作为虐待受害者而卷入法律的体系，他们揭露成年人的不法行为对于启动有效的法律的反应和保护他们免遭继续虐待是必要的。目前促进儿童诚实的技术依赖于明确或直接的要求儿童说实话，例如诱使他们承诺说实话。然而，这些技术的有效性在不同的研究中有所不同。这项研究将测试启动诚实（间接或无意识地激活诚实的目标）对儿童披露成年人的轻微不法行为的好处。儿童（6-9岁）将单独参加急救/安全活动，在此期间，成人（父母或陌生人）将让儿童玩禁止的木偶，据说“打破”木偶，并要求儿童保守秘密。在回答与事件相关的问题之前，孩子们会（1）通过听一个充满诚实的故事来为诚实的目标做好准备，（2）被要求保证说实话，或者（3）放心，许多孩子玩木偶，当被问到时会说出真相。然后，孩子们将被问到关于事件的不同类型的问题。结果将告知法律的从业人员是否启动，一个简单的，但理论上的基础和新颖的技术，促进儿童？大人的诚实，鼓励孩子们真实地揭露大人的错误。研究结果也将推进关于儿童的理论？家长与陌生人相比，是否愿意披露自己的不当行为，这是一个重要的实际考虑因素。

Children are often involved in the legal system as maltreatment victims, and their disclosure of adult wrongdoing is necessary to initiate effective legal responses and protect them from continued abuse. Current techniques for promoting children's honesty rely on explicit or direct requests that children tell the truth, such as eliciting a promise to tell the truth. However, the effectiveness of these techniques has differed across research studies. The proposed study will test the benefits of priming honesty (indirectly or non-consciously activating the goal of honesty) on children's disclosure of an adult's minor act of wrongdoing. Children (ages 6-9) will individually participate in a first aid/safety event during which an adult (parent or stranger) will engage the children in play with forbidden puppets, supposedly "break" a puppet, and request that children keep it a secret. Before responding to event-related questions, children will be (1) primed for the goal of honesty by hearing a story laden with words about honesty, (2) asked to promise to tell the truth, or (3) reassured that many children play with the puppets and disclose the truth when asked. Then, children will be asked different types of questions about the event. Results will inform legal practitioners about whether priming, a simple, yet theoretically-based and novel technique for promoting children?s honesty, encourages children's true disclosures of adult wrongdoing. Results will also advance theory concerning children?s willingness to disclose wrongdoing committed by parents versus strangers, an important practical consideration.