Trust

Trust Overview

Introduction to Trust

  • Dr. Julia Marshall

    • Presentation Date: October 1st, 2025.

Discussion Prompt

  • Turn & Talk:

    • Focus Question: What is the argument that Rhodes & Mandalaywala are making in their review article?

Key Takeaways

  • Core Concepts:

    • Definition of Social Essentialism.

    • Folk biological module versus Gelman's proposal for essentialism.

    • Argument: The same underlying mechanisms of biological essentialism apply to social essentialism.

    • Relevant studies: Zarpie study and its implications.

    • Consequences:

      • Stereotyping.

      • Intergroup interaction.

      • Prejudice.

Learning Goals

  • Objectives for Understanding Trust:

    • Explain what it means to measure trust.

    • Describe basic experimental paradigms for studying trust in development psychology.

    • Identify how trust develops and alters from infancy to age four.

Relevant Discussions on Trust

  • Factors Influencing Trust:

    • Relevant Factors in Trust Dynamics:

      • Shared experiences (e.g., living in the same area).

      • Common preferences (e.g., drinking matcha).

    • Irrelevant factors include superficial characteristics (e.g., hair color, personal interests).

    • Example question: What information is valuable for determining whom to ask about matcha recommendations?

Trust in Broader Context

  • Trust in Other Domains:

    • Example: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and FDA.

Definition of Trust

  • What is Trust?:

    • Definition: Belief in the reliability, truth, ability, or prosociality of someone.

    • Focus of Today’s Discussion: Epistemic trust (trust for knowledge).

    • Difference: Epistemic trust is distinct from emotional or interpersonal trust.

Learning Sources and Knowledge Acquisition

  • Learning Without Others:

    • Examples of self-derived learning include:

      • Recognizing natural patterns (e.g., tides, ripening of coconuts).

      • Observing cause and effect relationships.

  • Learning Through Social Interaction:

    • Some knowledge requires social construction, such as:

      • Identifying edible versus poisonous plants.

      • Learning cultural techniques (e.g., making fire).

      • Understanding language and social norms.

  • Core Insight: While humans can infer natural patterns independently, complex cultural knowledge necessitates relying on community testimony.

The Core Idea of Collective Knowledge

  • Human Learning by Collective Knowledge:

    • Main Point: Humans are not typically adept at solving survival problems in isolation.

    • Cumulative Culture: Knowledge is built across generations through copying, teaching, and trusting others.

    • Social Learning Biases:

      • Prestige Bias: Imitating individuals with high status or respect.

      • Success Bias: Copying those who demonstrate success.

      • Conformity Bias: Following majority behavior.

    • Outcome: Societal success is driven by groups rather than individual intelligence, relying heavily on trust and information sharing.

Language Learning as a Trust Example

  • Young Children's Trust in Language:

    • Under age four:

      • Koenig & Echols (2003): 16-month-olds notice and react to mislabeling (example: correcting a misidentified object).

      • Koenig et al. (2005): 3-year-olds can discern accurate identities based on correctness.

    • At Age Four:

      • Koenig & Harris (2005): Children begin to prefer accurate speakers, applying this discernment to both verbal and nonverbal actions.

    • Key Takeaway: Children monitor and evaluate accuracy to decide who is worth trusting.

Research on Trust in Testimony

  • Core Questions from Research:

    • Do children track the reliability of informants?

    • Do children use previous accuracy to evaluate current trust in new information?

Research Experiments Overview

Familiarization Tasks

  • Show children familiarized with informants who provide either correct or incorrect responses about objects.

Test Trials Examples

  • Example Queries:

    • Asking the child to identify an object after experiencing contrasting informant reliability.

Findings from Koenig & Harris Studies (2005)

  • Children encode the identity and reliability of speakers:

    • 3- and 4-year-olds recognize the more reliable informant following exposure to both accurate and inaccurate speakers.

Experiment Summaries

  • Experiment 1:

    • Children interact with two informants (one accurate, one inaccurate) and show preference for the accurate informant on new objects.

  • Experiment 2:

    • Introduced a knowledgeable versus ignorant speaker; children chose knowledgeable informant regardless of age.

  • Experiment 3:

    • Trust extends to nonverbal information; children prefer demonstrations from reliable informants.

Additional Findings in Trust Dynamics

  • Trust considerations influenced by criteria other than direct reliability:

    • Corriveau et al. (2013): Age preference shifts based on informant reliability over accent.

    • Jaswal & Neely (2006): Children prefer peers over adults based on past reliability, highlighting that accuracy surpasses age.

    • Corriveau & Harris (2009): Older children moderate familiarity preferences using informant accuracy as a measure.

Overall Insights

  • Selective Learning in Children:

    • Children are discerning learners, actively filtering information based on perceived reliability cues.

Activity Prompt

  • Study Guide Creation:

    • Task to synthesize and summarize arguments and key points from assigned readings on trust and understanding in children.