Children’s informational reliance during inconsistent communication: The public-private distinction

This study examined whether children recognize that when there is a discrepancy between what is expressed in public versus what is expressed in private, the private expression is more indicative of the true state of affairs. Participants (3-, 4-, and 5-year-olds) were shown a video in which a girl expressed that she liked the refreshments her friend had made when the friend was present but expressed dislike when the friend was not present. The results of the first two experiments revealed that older children were significantly more likely to rely on private information than on public information to interpret the inconsistent messages, whereas 3-year-olds were not. In the third experiment, older children performed better when the inconsistency occurred in the nonverbal domain compared with the verbal domain. The finding that even 4-year-olds show some signs of understanding the private-public distinction is remarkable given that previous research on inconsistent communication indicated that children’s understanding typically comes much later. Possible explanations for this discrepancy are discussed.