Preschoolers' Selective Trust In Informants

Not all learnings come from direct observation, sometimes people have to learn knowledge from second-handed materiels. Given information coud be from multiple informants, how to distinguish and select reliable informant becomes very important. Ealry childhood is one of the best period for learning and selective trust appears to be a hot spot in the developmental psychology field. Studies in this filed would help us to understand developmental trends of cognition and knowledge learning in early childhood. It would benefit the early education as well. Previous research indicated that prescholers would select the informant to trust by epistemic information and social informantion. However, preschoolers might have individual differences which impact their tendency of selective trust. In addition, the relations between selective trust, theory of mind, and executive function remained unclear. Sometimes informants might have multiple charactaristics and the weighing of children is very important for researchers. The present study had four parts:The first part was the developmental trends of selective trust.73 3-,4-, and 5-year-olds participated in this study. Several video clips were provided to preschoolers to explore the developmental trends. The results indicated that Chinese prechoolers trusted the informant who was accurate in the past as their Westarn counterparts. Moreover,4- and 5-year-olds had better selective trust than 3-year-olds.The second part was the individual differences of selective trust. Firstly, the present study validated the Child Social Preferenc Scale (CSPS) which was used for measuring social motivation.381 mothers of preschooler participanted in this study. The results indicated that the Chinese version of CSPS was reliable and valid. Secondly, the newly validated scale was used for examining the influences of individual differences of preschoolers' social motivation on selective trust.164 3-,4-, and 5-year-olds participated in this study. The results indicated that that level of social motivation accounted for the differences of selective trust in preschoolers. Socially withdrawn children scored lower that their non-withdrawn peers and shy children socred higher than unsociable and avoidant children.The third part was the relations between selective trust and other cognitive abilities in early childhood. This part included 2 studies.122 3-,4-, and 5-year-olds participated in study 3. The goal of this study was to examine the relations between selective trust and other cognitive abilities from a more comprehenseive perspective. Study 3 measured preschoolers'selective trust, theory of mind, and executive function at same time when language ability was also collected. The results indicated that after controlling for language ability, selective trust was positively associated with executive function while not associated with theory of mind. Based on study 3, study 4 used cross-lagged analysis to test the predictive relations between selective trust and theory of mind and executive function by longitudinal data. The results indicated that selective trust played a very important role in the cognitive development of early childhood. After controlling for language ability and stabilities of study varibles, selective trust significantly and positively predicted later executive function while the opposite prediction was non-significant. Selective trust was not associated with theory of mind in longtitudial data either.The fourth part was the weigning of selective trust. This part included 3 studies which focused on preschoolers weighing on past accuracy and effort. Study 5 presented video clips of effort first and manupilated past accuracy later to examine prescoolers'weighing of selective trust.77 3-,4-, and 5-year-olds participated in study 5. The results indicated that 3-year-olds trusted informant who was guessing while 5-year-olds endorsed the hard-working informant.4-year-olds showed no obvious preferences. When past accuracy was manupilated,5-year-olds changed their choices and weighed past accuracy over effort. Based on study 5, study 6 examined the weighning of selective trust by a reversed order. The study presented past accuracy first and then manupilated effort.81 3- and 5-year-olds participated in study 6. The results indicated that 5-year-olds still weighed past accuracy over effort when the manipulation order was reversed but 3-year-olds became confused in this weighning. Based on study 5 and study 6, study 7 explored whether the accuracy rate would affect prechoolers'weighing of selective trust. In study 7, the informants were not thoroughly accurate or inaccurate in some conditions and preschoolers might change their selections.100 5-year-olds participated in study 7. The results indicated that the accuracy rate would not change the weighing pattern of preschoolers and they still weighed past accuracy over effort. However, the accuracy rate would change the selection rate of certain informant.Overall, the seven studies examined and discussed preschoolers' selective trust from several different perspectives. Selective trust was rapidly developed in early childhood and the individual differences of social motivation exerted influences on it. Selective trust played a very impotant role in cognitive development in early childhood and it boosted the development of executive function. If the preschoolers faced informants had more than one cue they preferred, past accuracy outweighed others and should be noted specifically.