Einav, Shiri and Robinson, Elizabeth J.. (2011) When being right is not enough : four-year-olds distinguish knowledgeable informants from merely accurate informants. Psychological Science, Vol.22 (No.10). pp. 1250-1253. ISSN 0956-7976

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Abstract

Recent evidence demonstrates that children are selective in their social learning, preferring to learn from a previously accurate speaker than from a previously inaccurate one. We examined whether children assessing speakers’ reliability take into account how speakers achieved their prior accuracy. In Study 1, when faced with two accurate informants, 4- and 5-year-olds (but not 3-year-olds) were more likely to seek novel information from an informant who had previously given the answers unaided than from an informant who had always relied on help from a third party. Similarly, in Study 2, 4-year-olds were more likely to trust the testimony of an unaided informant over the testimony provided by an assisted informant. Our results indicate that when children reach around 4 years of age, their selective trust extends beyond simple generalizations based on informants’ past accuracy to a more sophisticated selectivity that distinguishes between truly knowledgeable informants and merely accurate informants who may not be reliable in the long term.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology
Divisions:	Faculty of Science > Psychology
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Cognition in children, Testimony (Theory of knowledge), Knowledge, Sociology of, Trust, Child development
Journal or Publication Title:	Psychological Science
Publisher:	Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
ISSN:	0956-7976
Date:	October 2011
Volume:	Vol.22
Number:	No.10
Page Range:	pp. 1250-1253
Identification Number:	10.1177/0956797611416998
Status:	Peer Reviewed
Publication Status:	Published
Access rights to Published version:	Restricted or Subscription Access
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URI:	http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/id/eprint/40677

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