Should We Trust Experiments on Trust?

Abstract

A new wave of research into children’s trust of others’ testimony has emerged from the finding that preschoolers prefer to learn new information from previously accurate informants, above those whom they have previously witnessed to be inaccurate. Whilst recognising the potential value of this burgeoning new field, we call for caution to be exercised in the extended and unquestioning use of the original selective trust paradigm first employed by Koenig, Clement, and Harris in 2004. Children’s success in this procedure has been widely assumed to demonstrate an epistemic understanding of informant inaccuracy. Yet, as it currently stands, the paradigm is not a valid test of epistemic awareness. We thus propose two criteria that we believe are sufficient to construct a true test of epistemic trust.

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