Are Dominant Figures More Trustworthy? Examining the Relation Between Parental Authoritarianism and Children's Trust Preferences in the U.S. and China

Abstract

Selecting whose words to trust profoundly impacts children's learning behaviours. This study investigated Western and East Asian children's trust preferences for informants based on social dominance and its potential association with cultural factors. Sixty-six European American children in the United States (M = 5.44 years, SD = 0.80 years) and 69 Han Chinese children in China (M = 5.42 years, SD = 0.73 years) were introduced to a dominant puppet with decision-making power over a subordinate puppet. The puppets provided conflicting explanations about novel tools, and children indicated whose explanations they trusted. Both American and Chinese children preferred to trust the dominant puppet over the subordinate puppet. Although Chinese parents exhibited higher levels of authoritarianism compared to European American parents, this cultural difference was not significantly associated with children's trust preferences for the dominant informant. This research enriches our understanding of how informants' social power influences children's learning process across diverse cultures.