The Influence of Conflicting Perspectives on Children's Memory

This study was designed to examine the influence of conflicting perspectives on children s ability to recall and reframe a memory of self and other. Children, ages 9- to 11-years-old, listened to two stories. Story 1 was designed to evoke a negative interpretation of the best friend s behaviors such that the participant would most likely conclude that the best friend was mean-spirited. The second story was told from the best friend s perspective and either detailed the best friend s experience of the same events in Story 1 or described a series of unrelated events. Results demonstrated that hearing another child's perspective of the same events prompted many of the children to alter their recollections of the events, whereas hearing an unrelated story led to minimal changes in recall. However, there was considerable variability in the children s abilities to reframe a memory given another child s perspective, with participants with more advanced cognitive abilities more likely to reframe the initial memory than children with less advanced abilities.

Autorentext

I graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 1992. I completed my Ph.D.in Cognitive Psychology with an emphasis in developmental and quantitative methods in 2005 at the University of Kansas. I am currently an assistant professor in the Psychology Department - Developmental Program at the University of Utah.