Children’s skepticism: Developmental and individual differences in children’s ability to detect and explain distorted claims

•Examined developmental and individual differences in children’s skepticism.•Six- to nine-year-olds explained whether sources might provide distorted claims.•Older children were less trusting and better at explaining reasons to doubt claims.•Intelligence and social cognitive skills also related to children’s performance.

The current study examined some key developmental and individual differences in how elementary school-aged children evaluate sources of information. A sample of 130 children ages 6 to 9 years participated in a task designed to measure children’s understanding of ways that claims can be distorted (i.e., biased decisions, skewed self-reports, and misleading persuasive claims). Children also completed several individual difference measures, including a brief intelligence task and an advanced social cognition measure (interpretive theory of mind). Overall, older children were less trusting and better than younger children at explaining the reasons to doubt sources that might provide distorted claims. Crucially, the results also suggest that beyond age, both general intelligence and advanced social cognitive skills play roles in children’s ability to understand when and why they must doubt sources of distortion.