Preschoolers Mistrust Ignorant and Inaccurate Speakers

TLDR

Being able to evaluate the accuracy of an informant is essential to communication. The study explored preschoolers' understanding that, in conflict, information from reliable informants is preferable to that from unreliable informants, involving 119 children across three experiments. The experiments presented conflicting names for novel objects from previously accurate and inaccurate informants, allowing children to assess and compare informant reliability. Four‑year‑olds, but not three‑year‑olds, predicted future accuracy and preferred accurate informants; both age groups trusted knowledgeable over ignorant speakers; and children extended selective trust to verbal and nonverbal information, demonstrating a key strategy for assessing reliability.

Abstract

Being able to evaluate the accuracy of an informant is essential to communication. Three experiments explored preschoolers' ( N =119) understanding that, in cases of conflict, information from reliable informants is preferable to information from unreliable informants. In Experiment 1, children were presented with previously accurate and inaccurate informants who presented conflicting names for novel objects. 4‐year‐olds—but not 3‐year‐olds—predicted whether an informant would be accurate in the future, sought, and endorsed information from the accurate over the inaccurate informant. In Experiment 2, both age groups displayed trust in knowledgeable over ignorant speakers. In Experiment 3, children extended selective trust when learning both verbal and nonverbal information. These experiments demonstrate that preschoolers have a key strategy for assessing the reliability of information.