Mariéle Diniz Cortez, Rafael H Mazzoca, Douglas Fernandes Donaris, Ricardo P Oliveira, Caio F Miguel
Author Information
Mariéle Diniz Cortez: Departamento de Psicologia, Universidade Federal de São Carlos, Via Washington Luis Km 235, São Carlos, SP 13565-905 Brazil. ORCID
Rafael H Mazzoca: Departamento de Psicologia, Universidade Federal de São Carlos, Via Washington Luis Km 235, São Carlos, SP 13565-905 Brazil.
Douglas Fernandes Donaris: Departamento de Psicologia, Universidade Federal de São Carlos, Via Washington Luis Km 235, São Carlos, SP 13565-905 Brazil.
Ricardo P Oliveira: Departamento de Psicologia, Universidade Federal de São Carlos, Via Washington Luis Km 235, São Carlos, SP 13565-905 Brazil.
Caio F Miguel: Department of Psychology, California State University Sacramento, Sacramento, CA USA.
We evaluated audience control over children's honest reports using a reversal (ABA or ABAB) design. Four typically developing children performed a computer game in which they had to shoot a target and then report on their performance during and at the end of each session. Baseline assessed the accuracy of their reports in the absence of an experimenter. During the audience condition, an adult was present in the room and observed the child during the task. Participants accurately reported their errors when an adult was present, whereas they lied about their performance by systematically reporting errors as correct responses when an adult was absent. Honest reports about their total score at the end of the session also increased in the presence of the audience member. These results suggest that the presence of an adult exerted control over children's honest/accurate reports. We discussed the reasons why the presence of an adult may have served as a discriminative stimulus for honest reports.
