Generalizability of a two-factor measure of young children's suggestibility in Norway and the USA

• Published in: Psychology, crime & law crime & law, 2005-06, Vol.11 (2), p.123-145
• Main Authors: Melinder, Annika, Scullin, Matthew H., Gunnerød, Vita, Nyborg, Elisabeth
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Child psychology; Children; Memory; Norway; Psychology; Psychometrics; Statistics; U.S.A; Vocabulary
• ISSN: 1068-316X; 1477-2744
• DOI: 10.1080/10683160512331316299

We discuss the development of the Book Suggestibility Scale for Children (BSSC), a two-factor suggestibility measure developed as an alternative to the Video Suggestibility Scale for Children (VSSC; Scullin & Ceci, Personality and Individual Differences, 30, 843-856, 2001). In study 1, both the BSSC and the VSSC were administered to 60 American preschool children. Children responded affirmatively to inaccurate leading questions (Yield) and changed their answers in response to negative feedback from interviewers (Shift) in a similar manner on both scales. In study 2 we found that the BSSC was useful for studies of suggestibility in contexts other than America because 62 Norwegian preschool children responded to questions in a similar manner to an age-range and vocabulary matched group of 31 American children. Results support a two-factor model of suggestibility, although Yield appears to measure suggestibility across scales and situations more consistently than does Shift. American age-matched samples had significantly higher Shift and Yield 2 scores than the Norwegian sample.