Abstract
Three experiments examined children's awareness of rights to privacy and the right to know. In Experiment 1, 4th, 6th, and 8th graders, and undergraduate students, judged whether three types of individual information should be disclosed in a classroom newspaper. The 4th graders, like the older children and college students, distinguished between public vs. personal matters. That is, public matters like school activities were not assumed to be private, whereas personal items such as a diary and petty cashbook were assumed to be kept from the public view. In Experiment 2, the same four age groups evaluated whether a student should show his "good" or "bad" personal diary to a teacher, and whether a salesclerk should reveal her customer's telephone number to a "good" or "bad" person. Elementary school children tended to respond that the "good" diary could be shown, and that the telephone number could be given to a "good" person. In Experiment 3, 4th graders and the older participants all showed awareness that even "bad" personal matters should be disclosed if such disclosure is recognized as being in the public interest.
