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Related Experiment Videos

Trust.

Paul L Harris1

  • 1Graduate School of Education, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. harrispa@gse.harvard.edu

Developmental Science
|December 22, 2006
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Children selectively trust informants based on past accuracy, not just familiarity. Three- and 4-year-olds monitor testimony, preferring knowledgeable sources over those who err.

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Area of Science:

  • Developmental Psychology
  • Cognitive Science
  • Social Learning Theory

Background:

  • Children acquire knowledge through testimony from others.
  • Infants and young children are not always indiscriminate in their trust.
  • Selective trust influences information processing from a young age.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate how children evaluate informants.
  • To determine if children monitor informant accuracy.
  • To examine children's preference for accurate versus inaccurate sources.

Main Methods:

  • Presenting three- and 4-year-old children with testimony from different informants.
  • Observing children's choices to seek information from or endorse sources.
  • Comparing children's trust in informants with a history of accuracy versus inaccuracy.

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Main Results:

  • Children monitor informant accuracy from an early age.
  • Three- and 4-year-olds prefer information from accurate informants.
  • Familiarity does not override demonstrated accuracy in informant selection.

Conclusions:

  • Children employ selective trust heuristics when learning from testimony.
  • Informant accuracy is a key factor in children's trust decisions.
  • Future research should explore additional heuristics children use to filter testimony.