Development of Metasuggestibility in Children

The study is based on information discovered about the development of metasuggestibility in youngsters. Metasuggestibility is defined as a person’s ability, particularly in youth, to believe or manufacture facts based on what he or she has heard from someone older (Castelli, 2012). The knowledge is fed into the youngster because of the child’s inherent conviction that whatever an older person says is always true, regardless of whether she/he has experienced/witnessed the same situation or not. The youngster developed a belief in the statements, especially when they were repeated and coaxed to believe in some way.In most circumstances, metasuggestibility is observed when there is a legal case between a minor and a minor, or a minor and an adult. In rare occasions is it observed that a child is fed with false information to protect the adults.

The reason for the study of metasuggestibility was to observe the stage of life at which it has the highest effect in school children. Once the most vulnerable stage is spotted, the researchers could adopt a way to protect the children from the effects of such psychological influences, hence protect their right to have accurate information, and be free from mental torture. The research work also determines the relationship between metasuggestibility and suggestibility. Metacognition is another theory related to metasugggestibility, and this is the ability of a child to be aware of his/her abilities, both cognitive and physical.

b. The information is clearly represented since each, and every aspect is clearly defined for the complete understanding by everyone.

Method

Interviewing method was used in the study for the accurate and real-time data concerning the topic in question. The experiment included the interviewing of the children to gauge how they responded to questions (London, 2010)

a.

Participants

One hundred and ninety-six children between ages 6 and 13 were grouped into age groups and tested on their psychological ability to change or exaggerate the information that they had already experienced. (Melnyk, 2011)

Materials

The research work included the use of children between age 6 and 13, in a quiet room. Most of the work was done by statistical tools of data collection, sorting and analysis. Statistical formulae were used to group the children and distribute their numbers. Statistical tools were then used to analyze the data and make conclusions out of it.

Procedure

The children were classified into age groups and then subjected to oral and written texts. A source monitoring test was done and then followed by a test for metasuggestibility, which included the playing of a video (Poole, 2011). The children were asked whether the information in the video was either true or false. This was to test on their cognitive ability, and capacity to alter information depending on what they have heard or seen.

The methodology did not describe the criteria that were used in grouping the children. Moreover, video only was not enough to give full information on the cognitive capacity and suggestibility in the children.

b. The design and method used in the study are not that efficient and concrete conclusions cannot be drawn from the results (Castelli, 2012). This is because diverse methods were not used in the study, and the scope was also very narrow. The researchers could have employed other techniques such as direct interviewing and simulation, where the latter could have given very accurate results.

Results found

There was no significant influence of the inclusion of the police woman in the metasuggestibility test. Data was collapsed around a single performance index. The metasuggestibility performance indices also showed no difference in children who viewed the video once and those that viewed it twice (Poole, 2011).

Discussion

The inaccuracy in results was due to the errors in the collection of data. Some of the children did not respond to the questions- at the same time, some were not tallied after the responses were obtained. In the research work, 25 children were not counted, and this created a significant percentage of the difference in the deviation of figures (Poole, 2011).

a. Conclusions

The research team concluded that there was no relationship between age group and the ability of the children to answer the truth-lie questions. They also concluded that there was no relationship between their performance on the truth-lie interview and their performance on the metasuggestibility task. The conclusions do not sound reasonable- I believe that there is a significant influence of age on the ability of a child to answer a yes-no question. It is more probable that a child aged six will say a yes or no depending on guesswork, and not due to an existing knowledge of a true or false. The author’s explanations are based on biased results, hence not valid.

b. Validity of the Findings

Some of the findings are valid and can apply to the real world- for example, the performance of children on the yes/no do not depend on metasuggestibility, but it depends on the cognitive ability of a child. The yes/no answers is a form of a rigid questionnaire, hence not a measure of cognitive behavior. However, the relationship between age group and response to the yes/no questionnaire is true and practical in the external world.

References

Castelli, G. (2012). Estimating The Effect Of Misleading Information On Witness Accuracy. New York: Academic Press.

London, K. (2010). Applied Cognitive Psychology. Toledo: University of Toledo.

Melnyk, L. (2011). The Development Of Metasuggestibility In Children. London: Kings University College.

Poole, D. (2011). Applied Cognitive Psychology. Michigan: Central Michigan University.