The effect of social robot authority on epistemic vigilance in early childhood

Abstract

Social robots are increasingly deployed as tutors and learning partners, yet their authority cues may discourage children from questioning or verifying information. We investigated whether robot authority influences Chinese children’s epistemic vigilance and which source of authority drives this effect. In Study 1 ( N = 128, ages 4 and 6, M age = 5.39 years, SD = 0.92, 66 girls and 62 boys), robots with high and low overall authority asserted that all aliens in a task had three eyes. Children’s verification behaviors were assessed in terms of the number of times they checked the information, the length of time they spent checking, and how much time passed between checks. Results showed that children engaged in significantly less verification in the high-authority condition, and 6-year-olds checked more often than 4-year-olds. Study 2 ( N = 200, ages 4 and 6, M age = 5.19 years, SD = 0.92, 97 girls and 103 boys) built on Study 1 by manipulating two sources of authority: role authority (teacher-like vs. peer-like) and cognitive authority (knowledgeable vs. unknowledgeable). The same task and outcome measures were used as in Study 1. The results showed that cognitive authority significantly decreased children’s verification behavior, but there was no significant effect of role authority or child age. Together, these findings suggest that authority cues can shape how much evidence children seek before accepting robot testimony, particularly when the robot is presented as knowledgeable.