Three-year-olds show greater suspicion of circular arguments than adults

Children aren't as gullible as you might think. Early in life they display a discernment that psychologists call "epistemic vigilance". They are more likely to trust information from experts compared with novices, from kind people rather than meanies, and from those they are familiar with, as opposed to strangers. Now a study shows that even by age three, children are sceptical about circular arguments; in some cases even more than adults.Hugo Mercier and his team presented 84 children aged 3 to 5 (and a control group of adults) with three illustrated vignettes in which a girl was looking for her dog. For each story, one character advised the girl of the dog's whereabouts with an argument based on what they'd seen: "The dog went this way because I've seen him go in this direction," (this is known as an "argument from perception" and it was spoken in a neutral voice played through speakers). A second character said the dog had gone in the other direction and gave a circular argument, "The dog went this way because he went in this direction" (also heard through speakers).Children from age three and up, and the adults, more often chose to believe the character who based their testimony on what they'd seen rather than on a circular argument. This supports the idea that children from three and upwards have epistemic vigilance. "These results point to the existence of basic skills of argument evaluation that children would possess from at least three years of age onwards," the rese...
Source: BPS RESEARCH DIGEST - Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: Source Type: blogs