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An Experimental Analysis of Children's Ability to Provide a False Report about a Crime
07:36

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Published on: May 3, 2016

Young children's selective trust in informants.

Paul L Harris1, Kathleen H Corriveau

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

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences
|March 2, 2011
PubMed
Summary

Young children don't blindly trust adults. They selectively trust informants based on past reliability and social conformity, demonstrating sophisticated social cognition in early development.

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Area of Science:

  • Developmental Psychology
  • Cognitive Science
  • Social Cognition

Background:

  • Young children often appear indiscriminately trusting of adult information.
  • This perceived credulity aligns with traditional views of children's trust as indiscriminate.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To challenge the notion that young children exhibit indiscriminate trust.
  • To investigate the heuristics children use to select trustworthy informants.

Main Methods:

  • The study examines children's selective trust in informants.
  • Children's decisions are analyzed based on informant's past reliability and social standing.

Main Results:

  • Children prioritize informants with a history of reliable care or information.
  • Children favor informants who conform to group norms and cultural consensus.

Conclusions:

  • Children employ sophisticated heuristics, not indiscriminate trust, when evaluating informants.
  • These heuristics promote trust in familiar caregivers and broader cultural informants.