Abstract

Abstract

Children demonstrate selectivity in their trust decisions from an early age. This study examined how the reliability and racial background of informants influence children’s trust preferences in both epistemic (learning) and social contexts. 3- to 5-year-old children from two racial backgrounds (Black, White) completed a novel social trust task in which they chose a person to aid them in guarding a tower and an epistemic trust task in which they chose an informant to learn novel object names. Findings from the current study show that preschoolers’ epistemic trust decisions are contextually dependent on accuracy and race. White children exhibit ingroup preferences in the learning phase of the epistemic trust task when no accuracy information is provided, whereas Black children did not show a preference, but trended towards an outgroup preference. In the accuracy phase when information about the race and accuracy of the informant is known, children's responses hinge on who is accurate, producing divergent patterns across Black and White children. Black and White children did not show ingroup preferences different from chance in the social trust task. These findings contribute to understanding how real-world group membership shape the development of trust in early childhood.

Committee Chair

Lori Markson

Committee Members

Seanna Leath, Christopher Rozek

Degree

Master of Arts (AM/MA)

Author's Department

Psychology

Author's School

Graduate School of Arts and Sciences

Document Type

Thesis

Date of Award

Fall 12-15-2025

Language

English (en)

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Psychology Commons

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