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...xperiments demonstrate that preschoolers have a key strategy for assessing the reliability of information. Much of what we know, both as children and as adults, comes from other people (Bruner, 1990; =-=Vygotsky, 1962-=-). To learn new words, scientific facts, moral norms, and cultural and religious beliefs, children depend on information from others. However, people know different things and, thus, have different in...

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...ation. These experiments demonstrate that preschoolers have a key strategy for assessing the reliability of information. Much of what we know, both as children and as adults, comes from other people (=-=Bruner, 1990-=-; Vygotsky, 1962). To learn new words, scientific facts, moral norms, and cultural and religious beliefs, children depend on information from others. However, people know different things and, thus, h...

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...es that 3-year-olds, unlike 4-year-olds, are not able to anticipate mistaken utterances or attribute them to a speaker’s false beliefs (Perner, Leekam, & Wimmer, 1987; Wellman, Cross, & Watson, 2001; =-=Wimmer & Perner, 1983-=-). Another plausible explanation is that 3-year-olds’ indiscriminate trust is due to their general inability to monitor the relationship between knowledge and access to particular sources of informati...

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... of false labels in our study. People generally present young children with accurate names and descriptions. In fact, without this tradition, it is difficult to imagine how word learning could begin (=-=Clark, 1993-=-). In serious contexts, accurate labeling by adults may become an entrenched expectation among young children. Note that errors in the prediction task typically came in the form of crediting both adul...

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... people who hold false beliefs. A large body of research indicates that 3-year-olds, unlike 4-year-olds, are not able to anticipate mistaken utterances or attribute them to a speaker’s false beliefs (=-=Perner, Leekam, & Wimmer, 1987-=-; Wellman, Cross, & Watson, 2001; Wimmer & Perner, 1983). Another plausible explanation is that 3-year-olds’ indiscriminate trust is due to their general inability to monitor the relationship between ...

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...A large body of research indicates that 3-year-olds, unlike 4-year-olds, are not able to anticipate mistaken utterances or attribute them to a speaker’s false beliefs (Perner, Leekam, & Wimmer, 1987; =-=Wellman, Cross, & Watson, 2001-=-; Wimmer & Perner, 1983). Another plausible explanation is that 3-year-olds’ indiscriminate trust is due to their general inability to monitor the relationship between knowledge and access to particul...

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... and presenting 3- and 4-year-olds with informants who were either knowledgeable or ignorant. Young children have proven sensitive to cues that signal differences in speaker knowledge (O’Neill, 1996; =-=Sabbagh & Baldwin, 2001-=-). In addition, 3-year-olds are generally more accurate in attributing ignorance than in attributing false beliefs (Hogrefe, Wimmer, & Perner, 1986; Perner & Wimmer, 1988). If 3-year-olds are puzzled ...

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...nces in knowledge. A familiar example is one in which a child watches as John, but not Mary, looks inside a closed container and the child has to determine which adult knows the container’s contents (=-=Pratt & Bryant, 1990-=-). This dominant conception treats knowledge as person independent. If the above situation were reversed, and Mary but not John were given access, then the difference in knowledge would also be revers...

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...e relationship between knowledge and access to particular sources of information. Several studies have found that 3-year-olds are poorer at differentiating sources of information than are 4year-olds (=-=Gopnik & Graf, 1988-=-; O’Neill & Chong, 2001; O’Neill & Gopnik, 1991; Wimmer, Hogrefe, & Sodian, 1988). For example, when asked to report how they had learned the contents of a drawer, 3year-olds were more likely than 4- ...

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...that signal differences in speaker knowledge (O’Neill, 1996; Sabbagh & Baldwin, 2001). In addition, 3-year-olds are generally more accurate in attributing ignorance than in attributing false beliefs (=-=Hogrefe, Wimmer, & Perner, 1986-=-; Perner & Wimmer, 1988). If 3-year-olds are puzzled by mistaken informants but not by ignorant ones, they should display selective trust toward a knowledgeable as opposed to an ignorant informant. If...

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...Bennett, 1994). As communicators, young children also show marked sensitivity to the age of a listener by producing simpler, shorter speech to children younger than themselves (Dunn & Kendrick, 1982; =-=Shatz & Gelman, 1973-=-). r 2005 by the Society for Research in Child Development, Inc. All rights reserved. 0009-3920/2005/7606-0010 Support for this research was provided by NICHD grant F32 HD42860 to the first author. Sp...

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...labeling tasks that encouraged children to think categorically about people or their characteristics, children made trait-based Preschoolers Mistrust Ignorant and Inaccurate Speakers 1273 inferences (=-=Gelman & Heyman, 1999-=-; Heyman & Gelman, 1999). Cain et al. (1997) provided 4- to 5year-old children with multiple pieces of consistent information about a person’s past moral behavior and asked them to predict their futur...

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...e that adults know more than themselves, and that younger children know less (Taylor, Cartwright, & Bowden, 1991). They appreciate that different individuals have different kinds of expert knowledge (=-=Lutz & Keil, 2002-=-; Taylor, Esbensen, & Bennett, 1994). As communicators, young children also show marked sensitivity to the age of a listener by producing simpler, shorter speech to children younger than themselves (D...

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...year-olds lack the conceptual tools needed to invoke either of these possibilities. Children of this age have difficulty attributing deceptive intent to liars (Lee, Cameron, Doucette, & Talwar, 2002; =-=Peterson, Peterson, & Seeto, 1983-=-; Strichartz & Burton, 1990) and it is well documented that they struggle under a variety of conditions to identify false beliefs in others (Moses & Flavell, 1990; Perner et al., 1987; Wellman et al.,...

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...more than themselves, and that younger children know less (Taylor, Cartwright, & Bowden, 1991). They appreciate that different individuals have different kinds of expert knowledge (Lutz & Keil, 2002; =-=Taylor, Esbensen, & Bennett, 1994-=-). As communicators, young children also show marked sensitivity to the age of a listener by producing simpler, shorter speech to children younger than themselves (Dunn & Kendrick, 1982; Shatz & Gelma...

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...Doucette, & Talwar, 2002; Peterson, Peterson, & Seeto, 1983; Strichartz & Burton, 1990) and it is well documented that they struggle under a variety of conditions to identify false beliefs in others (=-=Moses & Flavell, 1990-=-; Perner et al., 1987; Wellman et al., 2001; Wimmer & Perner, 1983). Thus, children who lack the conceptual resources to explain such false labeling may lack sufficient reason to mistrust this person ...

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...name entities that are known only by people with the relevant past experience (Birch & Bloom, 2002). Furthermore, young children reject testimony from an informant who is less informed than they are (=-=Robinson & Whitcombe, 2003-=-). Thus, in contrast to the deficits found in standard source-monitoring experiments, children as young as 3 years of age demonstrate significant skill when evaluating information that has come from a...

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...ouraged children to think categorically about people or their characteristics, children made trait-based Preschoolers Mistrust Ignorant and Inaccurate Speakers 1273 inferences (Gelman & Heyman, 1999; =-=Heyman & Gelman, 1999-=-). Cain et al. (1997) provided 4- to 5year-old children with multiple pieces of consistent information about a person’s past moral behavior and asked them to predict their future behavior in various s...

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...thletic than those who treated others poorly. As we will discuss later, the present findings are also consistent with the possibility that young children make attributions in relatively global terms (=-=Rholes & Ruble, 1984-=-; Stipek & Daniels, 1990). General Discussion Experiment 1 showed that both 3- and 4-year-olds distinguish between accurate and inaccurate informants but only 4-year-olds use that judgment to (i) pred...

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...ling than from uncertain speakers (Sabbagh & Baldwin, 2001). They recognize that proper nouns, rather than common nouns, name entities that are known only by people with the relevant past experience (=-=Birch & Bloom, 2002-=-). Furthermore, young children reject testimony from an informant who is less informed than they are (Robinson & Whitcombe, 2003). Thus, in contrast to the deficits found in standard source-monitoring...

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...ent state and focused on claims about immediately available facts. For example, much of this research has pitted a child’s direct perception against a person’s claim (Robinson, Mitchell, & Nye, 1995; =-=Zaitchik, 1991-=-) or varied a speaker’s immediate access to information (Povinelli & de Blois, 1992; Robinson & Whitcombe, 2003). Although it is important that children realize that speakers who have privileged acces...

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...2; Taylor, Esbensen, & Bennett, 1994). As communicators, young children also show marked sensitivity to the age of a listener by producing simpler, shorter speech to children younger than themselves (=-=Dunn & Kendrick, 1982-=-; Shatz & Gelman, 1973). r 2005 by the Society for Research in Child Development, Inc. All rights reserved. 0009-3920/2005/7606-0010 Support for this research was provided by NICHD grant F32 HD42860 t...

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...e as a temporary, person-independent state and focused on claims about immediately available facts. For example, much of this research has pitted a child’s direct perception against a person’s claim (=-=Robinson, Mitchell, & Nye, 1995-=-; Zaitchik, 1991) or varied a speaker’s immediate access to information (Povinelli & de Blois, 1992; Robinson & Whitcombe, 2003). Although it is important that children realize that speakers who have ...

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..., how novel objects function. In fact, much of the relevant literature on trait-based reasoning suggests that children of this age do not readily attribute dispositions or traits to explain behavior (=-=Kalish, 2002-=-; Miller & Aloise, 1989; Ruble & Dweck, 1995). On the other hand, children might treat the reliable informant as generally knowledgeable. If this were the case, children should seek information about ...

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... needed to invoke either of these possibilities. Children of this age have difficulty attributing deceptive intent to liars (Lee, Cameron, Doucette, & Talwar, 2002; Peterson, Peterson, & Seeto, 1983; =-=Strichartz & Burton, 1990-=-) and it is well documented that they struggle under a variety of conditions to identify false beliefs in others (Moses & Flavell, 1990; Perner et al., 1987; Wellman et al., 2001; Wimmer & Perner, 198...

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... information. Several studies have found that 3-year-olds are poorer at differentiating sources of information than are 4year-olds (Gopnik & Graf, 1988; O’Neill & Chong, 2001; O’Neill & Gopnik, 1991; =-=Wimmer, Hogrefe, & Sodian, 1988-=-). For example, when asked to report how they had learned the contents of a drawer, 3year-olds were more likely than 4- and 5-year-olds to incorrectly claim that they had seen the object in the drawer...

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...this possibility is the finding that when provided with multiple examples of consistent past behavior and sensitive response measures, young children can indeed predict consistency across situations (=-=Cain, Heyman, & Walker, 1997-=-). If children treat someone who is knowledgeable about object names as a reliable source regarding other types of information, such as object functions, this would suggest that children’s trust guide...

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..., much of the relevant literature on trait-based reasoning suggests that children of this age do not readily attribute dispositions or traits to explain behavior (Kalish, 2002; Miller & Aloise, 1989; =-=Ruble & Dweck, 1995-=-). On the other hand, children might treat the reliable informant as generally knowledgeable. If this were the case, children should seek information about both object names and functions from the pre...

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...r knowledge (O’Neill, 1996; Sabbagh & Baldwin, 2001). In addition, 3-year-olds are generally more accurate in attributing ignorance than in attributing false beliefs (Hogrefe, Wimmer, & Perner, 1986; =-=Perner & Wimmer, 1988-=-). If 3-year-olds are puzzled by mistaken informants but not by ignorant ones, they should display selective trust toward a knowledgeable as opposed to an ignorant informant. If, on the other hand, th...

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... treated others poorly. As we will discuss later, the present findings are also consistent with the possibility that young children make attributions in relatively global terms (Rholes & Ruble, 1984; =-=Stipek & Daniels, 1990-=-). General Discussion Experiment 1 showed that both 3- and 4-year-olds distinguish between accurate and inaccurate informants but only 4-year-olds use that judgment to (i) predict their future asserti...

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... past history. In asking whether young children distinguish among informants in this way, it is helpful to differentiate between transient and stable variation among individuals in their reliability (=-=Miller, 2000-=-). Much theory-of-mind research has focused on how children come to understand that individual differences in perceptual access result in temporary differences in knowledge. A familiar example is one ...

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... epistemic trust but, rather, a global ‘‘halo effect’’ reflecting a bias to extrapolate from one positive characteristic to other personality characteristics about which nothing is objectively known (=-=Yuill, 1997-=-). In short, an important task for future research is to delineate the scope of children’s trust in a more precise fashion. Children, and adults, are deeply dependent on other people for their knowled...