A new study indicates precisely when children begin to use logic instead of emotion to judge how trustworthy someone is.
Children four years old and younger tend to believe information provided by a confident adults much more readily than adults who are hesitant. However, the study showed that beginning around age five, children increasingly trust information given by an adult that was right in the past, regardless of whether the individual was confident or not.
This study suggests the mental switch to favor reliability over confidence happens around the time of their fifth birthday.
Original research paper published in PLOS One on September 25, 2014.
Names and affiliations of selected authors
