It's how you teach, not what you teach: Children prefer coordinative instruction from informants

Research on selective social trust has primarily focused on how labels related to knowledge and traits affect children's preferences. However, interactive dynamics like coordination, which have well-established prosocial effects, also play a key role in social decision-making. This study explored whether children prefer informants who provide instructions in a coordinated manner during a problem-solving task. We tested 183 Chinese children aged 3-6 (90 females, f = 0.15), evaluating their preference for coordinative versus noncoordinative informants on game-playing ability, willingness to engage, and whether their preference generalizes to unrelated tasks. Children consistently preferred the coordinative informant, perceiving them as more competent and trustworthy. These findings underscore the importance of coordination in selective learning.