Research has shown that young children are selective in whom they trust, for example, learning selectively from the previously more reliable sources. To explain what cognitive foundations this capacity may build upon, is has recently been proposed that children recruit different kinds of cognitive strategies. These may include, on the one hand, simple heuristics such as favoring the overall better protagonist or those who score high on a salient, accessible characteristic, and, on the other hand, more systematic and cognitively effortful strategies, e.g., taking into account the individual properties of a protagonist. Based on such dual-process account, the present studies investigated the prediction that the more systematic processes require cognitive resources and develop with age. Children and adults were familiarized with two protagonists: The strong-and-shy protagonist scored high on a highly accessible trait (strength), whereas the weak-and-extraverted protagonist scored high on a less accessible trait (extraversion). In test trials, participants chose between these two protagonists for strength- and extraversion-related tasks. The results were consistent with the prediction of the dual-process account: Older children, and adults under normal conditions, showed a pattern of systematic reasoning, selecting the protagonists with the relevant trait for a given task. Yet, younger children, and adults whose cognitive capacities were burdened with a secondary task, showed a pattern of heuristic reasoning, selecting the strong-and-shy protagonist not only in the strength tasks but often also in the extraversion tasks. This is the first piece of direct evidence for the applicability of a dual-process account on selective trust.
Selective trust in young children and distracted adults: halo-effects outweigh rational choices