A new study published in the journal Child Development, conducted by researchers from the University of Toronto and Harvard University, shows that as children get older, they become more skeptical of what adults tell them.  The first study, which took place between September 2019 and March 2020, involved 109 children between the ages of four and six.  The children were presented with three familiar objects: a rock, a piece of sponge-like material, and a play bag. The experimenter began by asking the children, "Do you think this rock is hard or soft?"  All of the children responded that the rock was hard. The children were then randomly told things that contradicted their ideas about the world ("Actually, this rock is soft, not hard") or things that confirmed their intuition ("That's right, this rock is hard"). After these statements, all children were asked again, "So, do you think this rock is hard or soft?" Almost all of the children who heard the statements that matched their beliefs continued to make the same judgment as before: the rock is hard. Only a few of the children who had been told that the rock was soft continued to make the previous judgments. The experimenter then left the room and left the children to explore the object on their own. The study showed that most of the children, regardless of age, participated in testing the surprising statements.  The second study, which was conducted from September to December 2020, involved 154 children between the ages of 4 and 7.  The experimenter presented each child with eight vignettes. Each vignette recorded an unexpected statement and asked what another child should do in response to that statement and why they should do it. It turned out that older children were more likely than younger children to offer to check the adults' statement. These results indicate that as children get older, they become more aware of their doubts about what adults tell them and their exploration becomes more focused.