Journal
PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE
Volume 16, Issue 5, Pages 385-390Publisher
SAGE PUBLICATIONS INC
DOI: 10.1111/j.0956-7976.2005.01545.x
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Funding
- NICHD NIH HHS [R01-HD23922, R01 HD023922, R37 HD023922, R-37-HD023922, R37 HD023922-21] Funding Source: Medline
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Two experiments explored the development of cynicism by examining how children evaluate other people who make claims consistent or inconsistent with their self-interests. In Experiment 1, kindergartners, second graders, and fourth graders heard stories with ambiguous conclusions in which characters made statements that were aligned either with or against self-interest. Older children took into account the self-interests of characters in determining how much to believe them: They discounted statements aligned with self-interest, whereas they accepted statements going against self-interest. Experiment 2 examined children's endorsement of three different explanations for potentially self-interested statements: lies, biases, and mistakes. Like adults, sixth graders endorsed lies and bias as plausible explanations for wrong statements aligned with self-interest; younger children did not endorse bias. Implications for the development of cynicism and children's understanding of bias are discussed.
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