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When being right is not enough : four-year-olds distinguish knowledgeable informants from merely accurate informants
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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. doi:10.1177/0956797611416998 ISSN 0956-7976.
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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0956797611416998
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 | ||||
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Subjects: | B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology | ||||
Divisions: | Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine > 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 | ||||
Official Date: | October 2011 | ||||
Dates: |
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Volume: | Vol.22 | ||||
Number: | No.10 | ||||
Page Range: | pp. 1250-1253 | ||||
DOI: | 10.1177/0956797611416998 | ||||
Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||
Publication Status: | Published | ||||
Access rights to Published version: | Restricted or Subscription Access |
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