This thesis presents eight studies, which examined the validity and usefulness of the Bicocca Suggestibility Scales (BISS). The BISS is a test-battery specifically created for Italian elementary school children to assess their vulnerability to suggestibility. There are two parallel versions (BISS-A and BISS-B), so that the test can be administered more than once to the same child. Children are required to listen to a story and immediately recall everything they remember about the story. They are subsequently involved in “distracting” tasks. Then, they are asked several true and leading questions about the story. Independently of the correctness of their answers, they receive negative feedback and all the questions are proposed again. Lastly, they are required to recall again everything they remember about the story to detect the presence of the post-event misinformation effect. The first four studies examined the psychometric properties of the BISS, by examining the test-retest reliability of the parallel forms of the BISS as well as their internal consistency (Study 1 and Study 2). Study 3 assessed the concurrent validity of the BISS by comparing children’s performance on the BISS to their performance on the Bonn Test of Statement Suggestibility. Study 4 examined the factor structure of the BISS. The results of the first four studies demonstrated that the BISS is a valid and reliable tool for assessing individual differences in suggestibility. The next four studies examined discriminant validity and the role of individual differences in suggestibility. Specifically, Study 5 examined the relationship between memory and suggestibility with intelligence, working memory, and executive functions. The results did not support the existence of a relationship between suggestibility and intelligence, while a negative association between yield score and working memory was found. The purpose of Studies 6 and 7 was to investigate the influence of theory of mind on suggestibility. Theory of mind skill was assessed through two different tasks that involved inferring the mental state of a person just from auditory and visual cues, respectively. This was assessed first by considering the individual level only. In Study 6 situational conditions were kept constant, and the relative contribution of theory of mind, working memory and inhibitory control were assessed. Study 7 evaluated the joint effect of theory of mind and the role of interviewer behaviour. After assessing children’s theory of mind, children were assigned to two different groups. They watched a video and were randomly allocated to two different experimental conditions to be interviewed by an adult acting in a friendly or a non-friendly manner. The results provided some support to the protective role of theory of mind on suggestibility, but only when considering the ability to infer others' mental states from auditory cues. The children interviewed by a friendly interviewer were less suggestible than the children questioned by a less friendly adult. Moreover, suggestibility as a trait-like characteristic and the interviewer's behaviour were shown to be the main predictors of children's performance in answering misleading questions about the video. Study 8 investigated the relationships between memory, suggestibility, and temperament in school-age children. Eight temperamental traits were considered: social orientation, inhibition to novelty, activity, positive emotionality, negative emotionality, attention, compliance, and shyness. Only a few of the temperamental factors were associated with memory and a vulnerability to suggestive questions. Activity and positive emotionality were the only temperamental traits that added predictive value to the model predicting the children’s answers to leading questions. The final part of the thesis examines the implications of the findings along with the limitations, and future directions are discussed.

Questa tesi presenta otto studi che hanno esaminato la validità e l'utilità del Bicocca Suggestibility Scales (BISS). Il BISS è una batteria di test creata appositamente per bambini italiani in età scolare, per valutare la loro vulnerabilità alla suggestionabilità. Esistono due versioni parallele dello strumento (BISS-A e BISS-B), affinché il test possa essere somministrato più volte allo stesso soggetto. Al bambino è richiesto di ascoltare una storia e subito dopo di riportare tutto ciò che ricorda di essa. Successivamente è coinvolto in compiti "distraenti". Quindi, gli vengono poste delle domande di controllo e suggestive relative alla storia. Indipendentemente dalla correttezza delle risposte fornite, al bambino viene dato un feedback negativo e tutte le domande vengono nuovamente proposte. Infine, al bambino viene chiesto di rievocare nuovamente tutto ciò che ricorda della storia, al fine di rilevare la presenza dell'effetto di disinformazione. I primi quattro studi presentati in questa tesi hanno valutato le proprietà psicometriche del BISS, esaminando l'attendibilità delle forme parallele e la loro coerenza (Studio 1 e Studio 2). Lo Studio 3 ha valutato la validità concorrente del BISS confrontando i punteggi dei bambini al BISS e quelli ottenuti con il Bonn Test of Statement Suggestibility, mentre lo Studio 4 ha esaminato la struttura fattoriale del BISS. I risultati di questi 4 studi hanno dimostrato che il BISS è uno strumento valido e affidabile. Gli studi successivi hanno esaminato la validità discriminante del BISS e il ruolo delle differenze individuali nella suggestionabilità. Nello specifico, lo Studio 5 ha esaminato la relazione tra memoria e suggestionabilità con intelligenza, memoria di lavoro e funzioni esecutive. Non sono emerse relazioni significative tra suggestionabilità e intelligenza, mentre è stata rilevata un'associazione negativa tra cedevolezza e memoria di lavoro. Gli Studi 6 e 7 hanno indagato l'influenza della teoria della mente sulla suggestionabilità, valutando la teoria della mente attraverso due compiti che misurano la capacità di inferire lo stato mentale di una persona tramite stimoli visivi e uditivi. Nello Studio 6, le condizioni situazionali sono state mantenute costanti, mentre lo studio 7 ha valutato l'effetto congiunto di teoria della mente e comportamento dell'intervistatore. A tal fine, i bambini sono stati divisi in due gruppi in base alla loro abilità di teoria della mente precedentemente valutata. È stato mostrato loro un video e sono stati assegnati in modo casuale a due diverse condizioni sperimentali per essere intervistati da un adulto amichevole o da un adulto “ostile”. I risultati di questi studi supportano in parte l’ipotesi che la teoria della mente abbia un ruolo protettivo sulla vulnerabilità alla suggestionabilità, ma solo quando si considera la capacità di inferire lo stato mentale dell’altro tramite indizi vocali. Inoltre, i bambini intervistati da un adulto amichevole sono risultati essere meno suggestionabili dei bambini interrogati da un adulto “ostile”. Da questi studi è inoltre emerso che la suggestionabilità, intesa come “tratto”, e il comportamento dell'intervistatore sarebbero i principali fattori predittivi della performance dei bambini nel rispondere a domande fuorvianti. L’ultimo studio (Studio 8) ha indagato la relazione esistente tra memoria, suggestionabilità e temperamento. Sono stati presi in considerazione otto tratti temperamentali: orientamento sociale, inibizione alla novità, attività motoria, emozionalità positiva, emozionalità negativa, attenzione, compiacenza e timidezza. Soltanto alcuni dei fattori temperamentali sono risultati essere associati alla memoria e alla suggestionabilità, mentre i tratti di attività ed emotività positiva sarebbero gli unici ad aggiungere valore predittivo al modello che anticipa le risposte dei bambini alle domande suggestive.

(2018). The Bicocca Suggestibility Scales: instrument development and testing individual differences in suggestibility in school-aged children. (Tesi di dottorato, Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, 2018).

The Bicocca Suggestibility Scales: instrument development and testing individual differences in suggestibility in school-aged children

BENEDAN, LAURA
2018

Abstract

This thesis presents eight studies, which examined the validity and usefulness of the Bicocca Suggestibility Scales (BISS). The BISS is a test-battery specifically created for Italian elementary school children to assess their vulnerability to suggestibility. There are two parallel versions (BISS-A and BISS-B), so that the test can be administered more than once to the same child. Children are required to listen to a story and immediately recall everything they remember about the story. They are subsequently involved in “distracting” tasks. Then, they are asked several true and leading questions about the story. Independently of the correctness of their answers, they receive negative feedback and all the questions are proposed again. Lastly, they are required to recall again everything they remember about the story to detect the presence of the post-event misinformation effect. The first four studies examined the psychometric properties of the BISS, by examining the test-retest reliability of the parallel forms of the BISS as well as their internal consistency (Study 1 and Study 2). Study 3 assessed the concurrent validity of the BISS by comparing children’s performance on the BISS to their performance on the Bonn Test of Statement Suggestibility. Study 4 examined the factor structure of the BISS. The results of the first four studies demonstrated that the BISS is a valid and reliable tool for assessing individual differences in suggestibility. The next four studies examined discriminant validity and the role of individual differences in suggestibility. Specifically, Study 5 examined the relationship between memory and suggestibility with intelligence, working memory, and executive functions. The results did not support the existence of a relationship between suggestibility and intelligence, while a negative association between yield score and working memory was found. The purpose of Studies 6 and 7 was to investigate the influence of theory of mind on suggestibility. Theory of mind skill was assessed through two different tasks that involved inferring the mental state of a person just from auditory and visual cues, respectively. This was assessed first by considering the individual level only. In Study 6 situational conditions were kept constant, and the relative contribution of theory of mind, working memory and inhibitory control were assessed. Study 7 evaluated the joint effect of theory of mind and the role of interviewer behaviour. After assessing children’s theory of mind, children were assigned to two different groups. They watched a video and were randomly allocated to two different experimental conditions to be interviewed by an adult acting in a friendly or a non-friendly manner. The results provided some support to the protective role of theory of mind on suggestibility, but only when considering the ability to infer others' mental states from auditory cues. The children interviewed by a friendly interviewer were less suggestible than the children questioned by a less friendly adult. Moreover, suggestibility as a trait-like characteristic and the interviewer's behaviour were shown to be the main predictors of children's performance in answering misleading questions about the video. Study 8 investigated the relationships between memory, suggestibility, and temperament in school-age children. Eight temperamental traits were considered: social orientation, inhibition to novelty, activity, positive emotionality, negative emotionality, attention, compliance, and shyness. Only a few of the temperamental factors were associated with memory and a vulnerability to suggestive questions. Activity and positive emotionality were the only temperamental traits that added predictive value to the model predicting the children’s answers to leading questions. The final part of the thesis examines the implications of the findings along with the limitations, and future directions are discussed.
CAPRIN, CLAUDIA
Children,; memory,; suggestibility,; misinformation,; psychometrics
Children,; memory,; suggestibility,; misinformation,; psychometrics
M-PSI/04 - PSICOLOGIA DELLO SVILUPPO E PSICOLOGIA DELL'EDUCAZIONE
English
23-feb-2018
PSICOLOGIA, LINGUISTICA E NEUROSCIENZE COGNITIVE - 77R
30
2016/2017
open
(2018). The Bicocca Suggestibility Scales: instrument development and testing individual differences in suggestibility in school-aged children. (Tesi di dottorato, Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, 2018).
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/10281/199075
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