Power Acquisition and Exercise in Selective Trust: Responses of Chinese Children Aged 3 to 6 to Physical Supremacy and Decisional Control

Recent research has shown that children rely on social power to evaluate testimony. However, most of these studies treat power as a single, undifferentiated construct. In contrast, the present study conducted two experiments to investigate how power acquisition (physical supremacy versus decisional control) and power exercise (benevolence versus malevolence) influence selective trust in Chinese children aged 3 to 6 years (N=196, Mage = 5.01, SD = 0.98, ranging from 3.25 to 6.83 years). Results indicated that children trusted dominants over subordinates. Moreover, children trusted dominants who exercised power benevolently more than those who exercised it malevolently; in particular, 5–6-year-olds showed significantly less trust in dominants who exercised power malevolently than did 3–4-year-olds. Furthermore, children trusted dominants who acquired power through physical supremacy, as well as those who exercised it through decisional control. With increasing age, children’s trust in dominants shifted from those with physical supremacy to those with decisional control; however, this shift depended on the stage of power (acquisition versus exercise). Notably, when power was exercised benevolently, children showed similar levels of trust in dominants regardless of whether they exhibited physical supremacy or decisional control. In contrast, when power was exercised malevolently, children trusted dominants who manifested power via decisional control significantly more than those who manifested it through physical supremacy. These findings underscore the complex role of power dynamics in shaping children’s selective trust. They also provide age-specific guidance to support development of educational interventions to foster children’s rational evaluation of power holders and promote healthy social adaptation.