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参与法律制度，他们披露成人的不法行为是必要的，以发起有效的法律反应并保护他们免受继续虐待。目前促进孩子诚实的方法依赖于明确或直接地要求孩子说实话，比如诱导孩子承诺说实话。然而，这些技术的有效性在不同的研究中有所不同。该研究将测试启动诚实（间接或无意识地激活诚实目标）对儿童披露成人轻微不法行为的好处。孩子们（6-9岁）将单独参加一个急救/安全活动，在此期间，一个成年人（父母或陌生人）将让孩子们玩被禁止的木偶，据说是“打破”一个木偶，并要求孩子们保守秘密。在回答与事件相关的问题之前，孩子们将(1)通过听一个关于诚实的故事来为诚实的目标做好准备，(2)要求他们承诺说实话，或者(3)保证许多孩子玩木偶并在被要求时透露真相。然后，孩子们将被问及有关活动的不同类型的问题。结果将告知法律从业人员，启动，一个简单的，但理论基础和新颖的技术是否促进儿童？鼓励孩子们真实地揭露成人的不法行为。研究结果也将推进有关儿童的理论。美国愿意披露父母和陌生人的不当行为，这是一个重要的现实考虑。

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.