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Children's Use of Anatomically Detailed Dolls to Recount an Event
Author(s) -
Goodman Gail S.,
Aman Christine
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
child development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.103
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1467-8624
pISSN - 0009-3920
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-8624.1990.tb03570.x
Subject(s) - psychology , recall , developmental psychology , child abuse , sexual abuse , stimulus (psychology) , poison control , cognitive psychology , injury prevention , medicine , environmental health
The use of anatomically detailed dolls in child sexual abuse investigations has raised several controversial issues related to important theoretical questions in developmental psychology. The present study was designed to examine some of these issues in a methodologically sound experiment. 80 3‐ and 5‐year‐old children experienced a social interaction with a male confederate and were later tested under 1 of 4 recall conditions: reenactment with anatomically detailed dolls, reenactment with regular dolls, free recall with visual cues, or free recall without visual cues. The children were also asked a variety of specific and misleading questions, some of them dealing with acts associated with abuse (“He took your clothes off, didn't he?”). Both anatomically detailed and regular dolls along with other props aided 5‐year‐olds more than 3‐year‐olds in recounting the event. Toy use increased rather than decreased age differences. Anatomically detailed dolls did not foster false reports of abuse. Overall, 3‐year‐olds were more suggestible than 5‐year‐olds. The findings have implications for children's testimony in child abuse cases and for psychological theories concerning the effects of stimulus support on children's memory.