Do children go for the nice guys? The influence of speaker benevolence and certainty on selective word learning

Bergstra, Myrthe; Mulder, Hannah N. M. De; Coopmans, Peter

doi:10.1017/s030500091700054x

Cited by 3 publications

(5 citation statements)

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“…Our meta‐analyses make a number of important empirical and theoretical contributions; however, some potential limitations should be noted. When investigating how an informant’s characteristics impact children’s selective trust, some researchers have designed studies where children evaluate a single informant (e.g., Bergstra, Mulder, & Coopmans, ; Diesendruck, Carmel, & Markson, ; Nguyen, Gordon, Chevalier, & Girgis, ). In this paradigm, each child encounters only one informant and must decide whether to endorse the informant’s statements.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The role of epistemic and social characteristics in children’s selective trust: Three meta‐analyses

Wang

Danovitch

2019

Developmental Science

111

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Over the last 15 years, researchers have been increasingly interested in understanding the nature and development of children’s selective trust. Three meta‐analyses were conducted on a total of 51 unique studies (88 experiments) to provide a quantitative overview of 3‐ to 6‐year‐old children’s selective trust in an informant based on the informant’s epistemic or social characteristics, and to examine the relation between age and children’s selective trust decisions. The first and second meta‐analyses found that children displayed medium‐to‐large pooled effects in favor of trusting the informant who was knowledgeable or the informant with positive social characteristics. Moderator analyses revealed that 4‐year‐olds were more likely to endorse knowledgeable informants than 3‐year‐olds. The third meta‐analysis examined cases where two informants simultaneously differed in their epistemic and social characteristics. The results revealed that 3‐year‐old children did not selectively endorse informants who were more knowledgeable but had negative social characteristics over informants who were less knowledgeable but had positive social characteristics. However, 4‐ to 6‐year‐olds consistently prioritized epistemic cues over social characteristics when deciding who to trust. Together, these meta‐analyses suggest that epistemic and social characteristics are both valuable to children when they evaluate the reliability of informants. Moreover, with age, children place greater value on epistemic characteristics when deciding whether to endorse an informant’s testimony. Implications for the development of epistemic trust and the design of studies of children’s selective trust are discussed.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The role of epistemic and social characteristics in children’s selective trust: Three meta‐analyses

Wang

Danovitch

2019

Developmental Science

111

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“…Children's trust towards competent (Birch et al., 2008; Koenig et al., 2004) or benevolent (Lane et al., 2013; Vanderbilt et al., 2011) people has been consistently established. However, the findings about which characteristics are prioritized during trust judgment have been divided (Bergstra et al., 2018; Danovitch & Keil, 2007; Johnston et al., 2015; Landrum et al., 2013). Here we propose that the inconsistencies are best explained by the fact that children differentially weigh these characteristics in different contexts.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the test phase, following the methodology used by Kotaman and Arslan (2020), the experimenter placed the pictures (competent but malevolent and benevolent but incompetent) in front of each child and asked them to respond to the following questions individually. The children were asked nine questions formulated and grouped into three categories, competence, benevolence, and preference questions, based on the previous studies (Bergstra et al., 2018; Birch et al., 2008; Johnston et al., 2015; Koenig & Harris, 2005; Koenig et al., 2004; Mascaro & Sperber, 2009; Rakoczy et al., 2009; Vanderbilt et al., 2011; Xu et al., 2013). The competence questions were: (1) From whom would you like to know the name of an object you see for the first time?…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Bergstra et al. (2018) similarly found that children aged between four and six years followed certain (akin to competent) but nasty (akin to malevolent) informants, and that competence trumped benevolence. It should be noted, however, that these studies examined trust in the context of learning words and that such tasks present a situation where children are likely to prioritize competence, as suggested by Johnston et al.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Focusing on different informant characteristics by situation: The dimensions of benevolence and competence in children's trust judgment

Miyoshi

Sanefuji

2022

Social Development

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Children use informant characteristics, such as competence or benevolence, in trust judgment. Previous studies have examined the characteristics that children prioritize in trust judgment, but findings have been conflicting. Since people possess and tap into each characteristic in their daily lives as the situation demands, children may adjust the characteristics that they choose to rely on depending on the specific situation rather than always prioritizing either of the characteristics. Thus, the present study investigated children's trust judgment in different situations requiring either competence or benevolence. Additionally, children's preference for competence or benevolence was examined to explore its effect on trust judgment. Results showed that children were more likely to select a competent rather than a benevolent person in situations requiring competence and vice versa in situations requiring benevolence. Children preferred the benevolent person rather than the competent person; such preference did not appear to affect their selection of informants across various situations. In summary, children might focus on the different characteristics of the informant in accordance with the situation. Their preference for benevolence might relate to a preference for prosociality. This, in turn, could relate to enhanced sensitivity to benevolence in early childhood.

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“…As children develop, a primary means by which they learn is through social interactions with adults, and they must quickly learn whom to trust as reliable providers of information if their learning is to be accurate. The study of how children make such decisions has been of interest to researchers for some time (e.g., Bergstra et al, 2018;Einav & Robinson, 2010;Jaswal, 2004;Koenig et al, 2004); however, significant gaps continue to exist within this literature. Understanding this phenomenon is of importance in order to minimize children's susceptibility to misinformation.…”

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confidence: 99%

An Examination of Children's Selective Social Learning Based on Expertise Cues

Singer

2024

Preprint

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At a young age, children develop the ability to make selective social learning decisions, wherein they decide from whom they trust to learn new information. Substantial literature has examined children's selective social learning decisions based on epistemic cues (e.g., knowledgeability) and non-epistemic cues (e.g., perceived benevolence). When these cues are pitted against each other, a shift emerges wherein children aged 6-8 tend to rely on epistemic cues whereas children aged 4-6 prioritize non-epistemic cues. As children encounter experts such as doctors from an early age, it is important to determine how they understand and recognize expertise, an epistemic cue, and the extent to which expertise guides their selective social learning decisions. This research aimed to address these questions. Study 1 (Experiments 1-3) showed that children aged 4-5 were able to recognize expertise when it was indicated by an explicit label and professional attire, and that they could determine relative expertise when a clear contrast was presented (e.g., one informant works in a given field whereas the other has no exposure to that field). These cues subsequently informed their selective social learning decisions. In contrast, they struggled to discern expertise when it was indicated using technical language, and when the degrees of expertise were increasingly nuanced (i.e., contrasting informants that have exposure to a field as a hobby and for work). Children aged 7-8 were able to infer expertise in medicine from technical language and make selective learning decisions accordingly. Study 2 (Experiments 4-5) examined the robustness of children’s preferences to learn from experts, and pitted expertise cues against group membership as indicated by nationality and the minimal group paradigm. Results revealed that 7- to 8-year-olds, but not 4- to 5-year-olds, prioritized expertise cues over shared group membership (i.e., ingroup information) in their selective learning decisions. These results provide novel insights into the developmental changes in children’s conceptions of expertise and how they prioritize different expertise cues to guide their social learning. The implications of this can be seen in children’s susceptibility to misinformation from others if their selective trust decisions are based on cues that are not reliable or valid.

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Do children go for the nice guys? The influence of speaker benevolence and certainty on selective word learning

Cited by 3 publications

References 36 publications

The role of epistemic and social characteristics in children’s selective trust: Three meta‐analyses

The role of epistemic and social characteristics in children’s selective trust: Three meta‐analyses

Focusing on different informant characteristics by situation: The dimensions of benevolence and competence in children's trust judgment

An Examination of Children's Selective Social Learning Based on Expertise Cues

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