Children understand early in development that different
people know different things, and they are adept at using
this information to select appropriate sources of
information (Lutz & Keil, 2002). However, in the current
digital age, information may be gathered from both
humans and technological sources that select and present
information as humans do. Using methods designed to
study epistemic trust in human informants (e.g., Koenig,
Clement, & Harris, 2004), the current study investigates
children’s and adults’ selective trust in a technological
and human informant. Children (ages 4 and 5) and adults
were presented with queries designed to probe their
willingness to seek out and accept information from
human versus technological informants. The results
demonstrate that 4-year-olds prefer to seek information
from a human informant, but by age 5, children show an
increasing preference for the technological informant.
The relationship between children’s trust and their
experience with technology is also discussed.