Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 15, 2026

The Modified Temptation Resistance Task: A Paradigm to Elicit Children's Strategic Lie-telling
Published on: April 6, 2018
Preschoolers mistrust ignorant and inaccurate speakers
Melissa A Koenig1, Paul L Harris
1Department of Psychology, University of Chicago, IL 60637, USA. mkoenig@uchicago.edu
Abstract:
Being able to evaluate the accuracy of an informant is essential to communication. Three experiments explored preschoolers' (N=119) understanding that, in cases of conflict, information from reliable informants is preferable to information from unreliable informants. In Experiment 1, children were presented with previously accurate and inaccurate informants who presented conflicting names for novel objects. 4-year-olds-but not 3-year-olds-predicted whether an informant would be accurate in the future, sought, and endorsed information from the accurate over the inaccurate informant. In Experiment 2, both age groups displayed trust in knowledgeable over ignorant speakers. In Experiment 3, children extended selective trust when learning both verbal and nonverbal information. These experiments demonstrate that preschoolers have a key strategy for assessing the reliability of information.
Related Concept Videos
Social Foundations of Self II: The Generalized Other
Fundamental Attribution Error
Understanding Deception
Stereotype Threat and Self-fulfilling Prophecies
Language Development
The critical period for language acquisition suggests that the ability to acquire language is at its peak early in life. As people age, this proficiency decreases. Language development begins very...
Piaget's Stage 1 of Cognitive Development
Exploration...

