IMPROVING YOUNG CHILDREN'S SELECTIVE TRUST THROUGH STRATEGIC BEHAVIOUR TRAINING

Abstract

Learning from others allows children to acquire information efficiently. However, not all informants are reliable and children need to be selective in whom they trust. This study investigated the effect of strategic behaviour training on three-year-olds’ selective trust. One hundred and twenty-three children were randomly assigned into two conditions; children in the experimental condition were trained on strategic behaviour, while children in the control condition were trained on conservation. Children’s abilities to demonstrate strategic behaviour and selective trust were assessed using the hide-andseek task and two selective trust tasks (i.e., object location task and object naming task) respectively. Upon completion of training, children in the experimental condition improved significantly more than children in the control condition on the hide-and-seek task and object naming task. However, children in both conditions did not show significant improvement in the object location task. Furthermore, children’s improvement in the object naming task was dependent on whether they were equipped with certain theory-of-mind abilities – specifically, only children who had passed at least one of the early theory-of-mind tasks improved significantly. The findings demonstrate that strategic behaviour training can be effective in enhancing selective trust and highlight the importance of theory-of-mind in children’s development of selective trust.