Preschoolers seldom seek empirical data that can help them complete tasks when observation and testimony conflict

First published: June 21, 2021 https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13612

Commentary

This study will be an investigation into children's learning. Children (N = 278, 34-71 months, 54% girls) are told which of two doll music boxes they have turned on only.

Then, empirical evidence confirming or contradicting the testimonies was observed as a result. The children were then asked to classify the new puppets according to whether they had a functioning music box or not.

This also resulted in conflicting observed and testimonial evidence. Children were allowed to touch the music box during classification to see if they would explore which figurine turned the music box on, but we found that children rarely explored it. As a result of these observations, in some cases the children were unable to ignore misleading testimonials both when sorting the figurines and when asked about future attempts. And it follows that children who explored the validity of the figurines dismissed misleading testimonies.