Somebody ate all of the cookies in the cookie jar. After being questioned by her father, Jessica says that she saw her sister eat all of the cookies. Name two things you would want to know about the situation before blaming Jessica's sister

Question

Discuss how those two things would help you decide whether or not you should blame Jessica's sister.

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Any two of the following: (1) Jessica's age—her memories are likely to be more accurate if she is older than six; (2) how Jessica was questioned—her memories are likely to be more accurate if her father asked her specific, open-ended questions, rather than leading questions; (3) how much Jessica's sister likes cookies—if Jessica knows that her sister likes cookies, then she may use this knowledge to incorrectly infer that her sister ate all the cookies; (4) how long it has been since the cookies disappeared—the longer the lag between disappearance and questioning, the more likely Jessica is to misremember; (5) what expectations Jessica's father had when he questioned Jessica—if Jessica's father believed that Jessica's sister ate all of the cookies, then Jessica may have told him what he wanted to hear, rather than what she saw.