We're very excited to report that we received funding from the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) for a proposal titled, "Do young children verify adult claims or do they acquiesce to what they have been told?" (Award # 430-2019-00162). We've previously found that when presented with surprising claims, older children test it whereas younger children acquiesce.
The proposed studies will clarify how children develop the ability to critically evaluate socially transmitted information and how this ability is tied to other developments in children’s cognition. The studies will also advance our understanding of how the different kinds of explanations that adults give children influence children's exploration, discovery, and learning.
