Individual Differences in Children's Eyewitness Recall: The Influence of Intelligence and Shyness

This study was conducted to examine influences of personality characteristics on children's eyewitness recall. A sample of 217 children from 3 age groups (6-, 8-, and 10-year-olds) were included in the study. To explain individual differences in children's free recall of an observed event as well as in their ability to answer specific questions accurately, intelligence and teachers' rating of shyness were selected as central personality characteristics. The results revealed a significant influence of intelligence on free recall but not on suggestibility and a significant influence of shyness on the accuracy of cued recall. Whereas the effect of intelligence was positive, shyness was negatively related to eyewitness recall: Shy children were less accurate in answering specific questions than were those children of the same age group who were not shy.