Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 25, 2026

An Experimental Analysis of Children's Ability to Provide a False Report about a Crime
Published on: May 3, 2016
Children's trust in previously inaccurate informants who were well or poorly informed: when past errors can be
Erika Nurmsoo1, Elizabeth J Robinson
1University of Warwick, Coventry, United Kingdom.
Abstract:
Past research demonstrates that children learn from a previously accurate speaker rather than from a previously inaccurate one. This study shows that children do not necessarily treat a previously inaccurate speaker as unreliable. Rather, they appropriately excuse past inaccuracy arising from the speaker's limited information access. Children (N= 67) aged 3, 4, and 5 years aimed to identify a hidden toy in collaboration with a puppet as informant. When the puppet had previously been inaccurate despite having full information, children tended to ignore what they were told and guess for themselves: They treated the puppet as unreliable in the longer term. However, children more frequently believed a currently well-informed puppet whose past inaccuracies arose legitimately from inadequate information access.
Related Concept Videos
False Memories
One primary source of false memories is misattribution, where individuals incorrectly associate external information with...
Eyewitness Memory
One such error is memory distortion, which occurs because human memory does not function like a...
Hindsight Biases
Social Foundations of Self II: The Generalized Other
Accuracy and Errors in Hypothesis Testing
In hypothesis testing, the probability of making a Type I error, denoted as α, is commonly set at 0.05. This significance level indicates a 5% chance...
Beck's Cognitive Therapy
Arbitrary Inference
Arbitrary inference involves making conclusions without sufficient...

