Think-Aloud, Thought-Listing, and Video-Mediated Recall Procedures in the Assessment of Children's Self-Talk

Two studies examined the extent to which different cognitive assessment procedures yield similar data in pre-adolescent children. In Study 1, situationally anxious children reported their self-talk via think-aloud and verbal thought-listing procedures (N = 88). Half of the children reported their self-talk using both think-aloud and thought-listing while the remainder engaged in thought-listing only. Prior participation in think-aloud did not influence the self-talk subsequently reported by children during verbal thought-listing. Compared with thought-listing, more problem-solving (analytical) self-talk and less valenced self-talk was reported during think-aloud. In Study 2, 41 children reported their self-talk via both verbal thought-listing and video-mediated recall (own and other's perspective) procedures. Video-mediated recall generated self-talk of a similar valence to that obtained by thought-listing. More self-talk was generated when the children viewed their own perspective videotape compared with observer perspective videotape and thought-listing. While pre-adolescent children were able to respond to all three cognitive assessment methods, the self-talk produced was not identical. In choosing a cognitive assessment method, researchers and clinicians should be guided by the purpose of the assessment and the setting in which it occurs.