Epistemic vigilance online: Textual inaccuracy and children's selective trust in webpages

Einav, Shiri; Levey, Alexandria; Patel, Priya; Westwood, Abigail

Abstract

In this age of ‘fake news’, it is crucial that children are equipped with the skills to identify unreliable information online. Our study is the first to examine whether children are influenced by the presence of inaccuracies contained in webpages when deciding which sources to trust. Forty‐eight 8‐ to 10‐year‐olds viewed three pairs of webpages, relating to the same topics, where one webpage per pair contained three obvious inaccuracies (factual, typographical, or exaggerations, according to condition). The paired webpages offered conflicting claims about two novel facts. We asked participants questions pertaining to the novel facts to assess whether they systematically selected answers from the accurate sources. Selective trust in the accurate webpage was found in the typos condition only. This study highlights the limitations of 8‐ to 10‐year‐olds in critically evaluating the accuracy of webpage content and indicates a potential focus for educational intervention.

Citation

Einav, S., Levey, A., Patel, P., & Westwood, A. (2020). Epistemic vigilance online: Textual inaccuracy and children's selective trust in webpages. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 38(4), 566-579. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjdp.12335

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Mar 25, 2020
• Online Publication Date: Apr 28, 2020
• Publication Date: 2020-10
• Deposit Date: Apr 3, 2020
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 28, 2020
• Journal: British Journal of Developmental Psychology
• Print ISSN: 0261-510X
• Electronic ISSN: 2044-835X
• Publisher: Wiley
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 38
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 566-579
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/bjdp.12335
• Keywords: Developmental Neuroscience; Developmental and Educational Psychology
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/4245992
• Publisher URL: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/bjdp.12335
• Additional Information: Received: 2019-08-19; Published: 2020-04-28