Acquiescence Bias
Definition
The tendency to agree with questions regardless of their content, elevated in young children and persons with intellectual disabilities. A major source of unreliable information in poorly conducted interviews; managed by training interviewees that 'I don't know' is an acceptable answer.
- Definition type
- Tendency to agree regardless of content
- Elevated in
- Young children, persons with intellectual disabilities
- Effect
- Unreliable interview information
- Mitigation
- Training that 'I don't know' is an acceptable answer
Common questions
Why does acquiescence bias make yes/no questions risky in vulnerable witness interviews?+
A witness prone to acquiescence may answer yes to a leading yes/no question simply to comply with the interviewer's perceived expectation, regardless of whether the underlying event actually happened, which can manufacture false confirmation.
Can acquiescence bias be corrected after an interview is completed?+
Not reliably; once a suggestible or acquiescent answer is on record it is difficult to separate genuine memory from compliance, which is why open-ended questioning and rapport-building during the interview matter more than correction afterward.
Related terms
- Achieving Best Evidence (ABE)
- UK guidance (most recent revision 2022) on interviewing vulnerable witnesses including children. Embedded within the YJCEA 1999 special measures framework; ABE interviews...
- Cognitive Interview (CI)
- An evidence-based interview technique developed by Fisher and Geiselman that uses memory-enhancement strategies including mental reinstatement of context, free recall, temporal variation,...
- Intermediary
- A communication specialist (YJCEA 1999 s 29) who attends an ABE interview and trial to ensure that questions are put to vulnerable...
- Interrogative Suggestibility
- The measurable tendency of an individual to accept misleading suggestions and change responses under pressure, assessed by the Gudjonsson Suggestibility Scales (GSS-1,...
- NICHD Protocol
- A structured child investigative interview protocol developed by Michael Lamb and colleagues, with an extended rapport and narrative-practice phase followed by a...
- POCSO § 35
- The Indian Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act 2012 provision requiring Special Courts to record a child's evidence within 30 days...
- Special Measures (YJCEA 1999)
- Provisions under the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999 allowing vulnerable witnesses (including all children in sexual or violent cases) to...