The role of rapport in eliciting children’s truthful reports

Abstract

Children (N = 114, ages 7–13) witnessed a transgressor steal money from a wallet and then asked them to lie about the theft when interviewed by a novel interviewer. During the interview, children were asked to either describe various experienced events (Narrative Practice Rapport-building condition) or participate in an interactive activity designed to focus on the relational aspects of rapport-building including mutual attentiveness, positivity, and coordination between child and interviewer (Interactional Rapport-building condition). Children also completed a measure of rapport to indicate their subjective level of rapport with the interviewer. Older children in the Interactional Rapport-building condition were significantly more likely to be truthful, disclose the transgression earlier, and give more details. Findings provide an initial, exploratory understanding of how the rapport-building phase in eyewitness interviews may play an important role in children’s disclosure decision-making and may be another area to study to promote more truthful disclosures.