Children's information sharing from accurate and inaccurate sources
Children are constantly learning new information from sources that are often, but not always, accurate. Sometimes children may find themselves with an opportunity to share the information they have learned with others. An open question is whether children share this information selectively and, if so, whether their selectivity is related to the accuracy of the original source. In the present study, 4- and 5-year-olds received contradictory information from two sources, one who was accurate and one who was inaccurate. The information came from a variety of domains including math, science, and language. Children were then invited to share the information with a naïve other (an alien named “Zorg”). The results showed that children were selective about what they shared, preferring to share information from the accurate over the inaccurate source. Further results showed that sharing was mostly similar across age and domain.
Developmental psychology, Early childhood education
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