Nonverbal Rationality? 2-Year-Old Children, Dogs, and Pigs Show Unselective Responses to Unreliability but to Different Degrees

Title (eng)
Nonverbal Rationality? 2-Year-Old Children, Dogs, and Pigs Show Unselective Responses to Unreliability but to Different Degrees
Author
Kirsten H Blakey
Author
Eva Rafetseder
Author
Giacomo Melis
Author
Ariane Veit
Author
Kea Amelung
Author
Franziska Freudensprung
Author
Kinga Kovacs
Author
Zsófia Virányi
Abstract (eng)
Some philosophers argue that reflection is key to rational thinking. By tying reflective thinking to language, they struggle to account for minimally verbal infants and exclude nonhuman animals. This study assessed processing of undermining defeaters—a basic form of reflective thinking—in 36 two-year-old British children (13 female; Mage = 30.4 months, 98% White), 39 dogs (18 female), and 21 pigs (9 female), tested between 2022 and 2023. Informants acted on two screens: one informant reliably indicated a rewarded location; the other informant did not. Informants switched actions twice, prompting subjects to infer their reliability. Willingness to follow informants' indications did not differ between reliable and unreliable informants. However, reduced following in later trials suggests a response to uncertainty or an undermining defeater.
Keywords (eng)
Belief RevisionRational ThinkingReflection
Type (eng)
journal article
Language
[eng]
Persistent identifier
https://phaidra.vetmeduni.ac.at/o:5121
DOI
10.1111/cdev.70020
Is in series
Title (eng)
Child Development
Volume
96
Issue
6
ISSN
0009-3920
Issued
2025
Number of pages
15
Publication
Oxford University Press
Version type (eng)
version of record (published version)
Date issued
2025
Access rights (eng)
open access
License
CC BY 4.0 International
Rights statement (eng)
© 2025 The Author(s)