DEVELOPMENTAL DIFFERENCES IN CHILDRENS UNDERSTANDING OF EPISTEMIC AUTHORITY

An experiment was carried out to examine age differences in children's understanding of epistemic authority and its role in conversation. Tw o hundred and forty-six children from two age groups (6-7 and 11-12 ye ars) were asked to make an independent judgement as to the equality or inequality of two lines in an optical illusion. Experimental conditio ns varied; 'expertise' in the task was given by training in a measurem ent algorithm and 'familiarity with related stimuli' by being shown il lusions other than the test stimulus in training. Subjects who had ans wered independently that the lines were equal in length were paired wi th a same-age subject who had responded that they were unequal, and th e two were then asked to arrive at agreement. Results showed that youn ger children rely on external features of a situation in justifying th eir beliefs. Gender differences in conversations suggest younger child ren have difficulty differentiating status and knowledge attributes of authority. Older children displayed an awareness of self as a necessa rily autonomous element in the process of knowledge acquisition. Unexp ected gender effects of stimulus familiarity in the process of persuas ion are probably due to differences in subjects' behavioural styles.