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Younger Adults Can Be More Suggestible than Older Adults: The Influence of Learning Differences on Misinformation Reporting

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 March 2010

Tammy A. Marche ,
Jason J. Jordan  and
Keith P. Owre
Tammy A. Marche*
Affiliation:
University of Saskatchewan*
Jason J. Jordan
Affiliation:
University of Saskatchewan*
Keith P. Owre
Affiliation:
University of Saskatchewan*
*
Requests etc.: Tammy A. Marche, Ph.D., Department of Psychology, St. Thomas More College, University of Saskatchewan, 1437 College Drive, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada S7N 0W6
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Abstract

The aim of the present investigation was to determine whether differences in the strength of original information influence adult age differences in susceptibility to misinformation. One-half of the younger and older adults watched a slide sequence once (one-trial learning) that depicted a theft, whereas the remaining participants viewed the slide sequence repeatedly to ensure that all critical details were encoded (criterion learning). Three weeks later and immediately prior to final testing, participants were asked questions that contained misleading information. As expected, the degree of initial learning influenced age differences in misinformation reporting. That is, when event memory was poorer for older than younger adults (in the criterion learning condition), older adults were more susceptible to misinformation than younger adults. However, when memory of the event was poor (in the one-trial learning condition), the younger adults reported more misled details than the older adults, possibly because the younger adults had better memory for the misleading information. Therefore, strength of initial memory influences the extent and direction of adult suggestibility and helps explain the discrepancy found across studies in this area.

Résumé

La présente enquête visait à déterminer si l'intensité de l'acquisition d'une information originale influe sur les possibilités de désinformation chez des adultes d'âges différents. La moitié des adultes plus jeunes et des adultes plus âgés ont visionné une seule fois (apprentissage non cumulatif) une série de diapositives qui portaient sur un vol, alors que les autres participants ont visionné le diaporama à plusieurs reprises pour faire en sorte que tous les éléments essentiels soient assimilés (apprentissage de contrôle). Trois semaines plus tard, soit immédiatement avant le test final, on a posé aux participants des questions qui contenaient des informations trompeuses. Comme on pouvait s'y attendre, l'intensité de l'acquisition des connaissances initiales a influé sur la déformation de l'information, en fonction des différences d'âge. Ce qui signifie que les adultes plus âgés se rappelaient moins des événements que les adultes plus jeunes (dans l'apprentissage de contrôle). Par ailleurs, lorsque la mémorisation des événements était minimale (conditions d'apprentissage non cumulatif), les adultes plus jeunes ont rapporté plus d'éléments erronés que les adultes plus âgés, sans doute parce que les adultes plus jeunes se souvenaient plus facilement des informations trompeuses. Par ailleurs, l'intensité de la mémorisation initiale influe sur l'étendue et l'orientation de la suggestibilité des adultes, ce qui explique les anomalies trouvées dans les études dans ce domaine.

Keywords

Misinformation EffectAdult DevelopmentAge DifferencesEffets de désinformationdéveloppement des adultesdifférences d'âges
Type
Articles
Information
Canadian Journal on Aging / La Revue canadienne du vieillissement , Volume 21 , Issue 1 , Spring/Printemps 2002 , pp. 85 - 93
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Association on Gerontology 2002

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Footnotes

*Preparation of this article and the research reported herein were partially funded by a Research Grant from St. Thomas More College to Tammy A. Marche. We would like to thank the reviewers of previous versions of this manuscript for their valuable comments and suggestions, and special thanks to all of the participants who made this research possible.

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