Young children teach objective facts as opposed to subjective opinion

We examined an understudied aspect of children's pedagogical cognition and investigated whether children selectively transmit objective information. In three experiments (N = 168), 5- and 6-year-olds were asked to distinguish between objective and subjective statements (Experiment 1) and to choose objective or subjective information to pass on to others (Experiments 2 and 3). Children of both ages distinguished between the two types of statements, OR = 19.1, and preferentially transmitted more objective than subjective information when asked to teach, OR = 5.06. A control condition, in which participants were asked to share information with a peer, found that 5- and 6-year-olds also favored sharing objective information in a nonpedagogical context, OR = 1.96. Critically, children taught more objective information when placed in a pedagogical stance compared to a conversational context, OR = 2.31. These findings contribute to the growing body of work suggesting that children recognize teaching as a unique communicative mechanism, one that calls for the propagation of objective information, not subjective opinion. Our study furthers the understanding of how young children's pedagogical knowledge and competence develop. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).