Palmquist, C. M., & Jaswal, V. K. (2012). Preschoolers expect pointers (even ignorant ones) to be knowledgeable. Psychological Science, 23, 230-231
Abstract
How can you tell whether someone knows something? One strategy available early in development involves monitoring whether that person had access to the information in the first place (e.g., Onishi & Baillargeon, 2005). But this strategy is clearly fragile: Children who have a piece of knowledge sometimes mistakenly assume that ignorant individuals share that knowledge (e.g., Birch & Bloom, 2003). Here, we provide the first demonstration that the gesture an informant uses can also cause children to over-estimate her knowledge. Specifically, we found that pointing can lead 3- and 4-year-olds to attribute knowledge to individuals they otherwise recognize are ignorant. Further, we show this effect is specific to pointing: Grasping, another intentional, object-directed gesture, does not lead children to misattribute knowledge.