title: Reasoning about knowledge: Children's evaluations of generality and verifiability.
abstract: In a series of experiments, we examined 3- to 8-year-old children's (N=223) and adults' (N=32) use of two properties of testimony to estimate a speaker's knowledge: generality and verifiability. Participants were presented with a "Generic speaker" who made a series of 4 general claims about "pangolins" (a novel animal kind), and a "Specific speaker" who made a series of 4 specific claims about "this pangolin" as an individual. To investigate the role of verifiability, we systematically varied whether the claim referred to a perceptually-obvious feature visible in a picture (e.g., "has a pointy nose") or a non-evident feature that was not visible (e.g., "sleeps in a hollow tree"). Three main findings emerged: (1) young children showed a pronounced reliance on verifiability that decreased with age. Three-year-old children were especially prone to credit knowledge to speakers who made verifiable claims, whereas 7- to 8-year-olds and adults credited knowledge to generic speakers regardless of whether the claims were verifiable; (2) children's attributions of knowledge to generic speakers was not detectable until age 5, and only when those claims were also verifiable; (3) children often generalized speakers' knowledge outside of the pangolin domain, indicating a belief that a person's knowledge about pangolins likely extends to new facts. Findings indicate that young children may be inclined to doubt speakers who make claims they cannot verify themselves, as well as a developmentally increasing appreciation for speakers who make general claims.
authors.affiliation: University of Minnesota, United States. Electronic address: mkoenig@umn.edu.
authors.forename: Melissa A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Koenig
authors.affiliation: University of Minnesota, United States.
authors.forename: Caitlin A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Cole
authors.affiliation: Otterbein University, United States.
authors.forename: Meredith
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Meyer
authors.affiliation: University of Minnesota, United States.
authors.forename: Katherine E
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: Ridge
authors.affiliation: Cornell University, United States.
authors.forename: Tamar
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kushnir
authors.affiliation: University of Michigan, United States.
authors.forename: Susan A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Gelman
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003071:Cognition; D003210:Concept Formation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012938:Social Perception
keywords: Cognitive development; Metacognition; Testimonial learning