Kids Start To Test Surprising Claims By Early Elementary School
As many families prepare for a visit from Santa, and some face questions about the jolly old man in the red suit, a new study looks at how children react to surprising claims, says Tania Lombrozo.
As many families prepare for a visit from Santa, some are facing questions about the jolly old man in the red suit.
The fact that children will (sometimes) accept counterintuitive claims, like the existence of Santa Claus or the Tooth Fairy, has led some theorists to marvel at their willingness to take others at their word.
"Child brains are gullible," writes Richard Dawkins, "open to almost any suggestion, vulnerable to subversion...wide open to mental infections that adults might brush off without effort."
But research in developmental psychology tells a different tale. By age 5, about the.
