Children’s belief in purported events: When claims reference hearsay, books, or the internet

•Children heard claims based on second-hand oral testimony or text-based sources.•Younger children showed greater belief in claims based on hearsay than older children.•Younger children were more skeptical of claims that referenced the internet.•Children’s belief in testimony depends on where the information originates. Children aged 4.75–8.50 years (n = 127) heard testimony about improbable or impossible events—referencing either spoken hearsay, a book, or the internet—and judged whether the events could occur in reality. A separate baseline group (n = 48) judged the events without hearing testimony. Relative to baseline, younger children (4 and 5 years) reported greater belief that improbable events could occur when testimony referenced hearsay and less belief when testimony referenced the internet. In contrast, older children (8 years) were less likely to believe improbable events could occur when testimony referenced hearsay and believed testimony that referenced a text-based source (a book or the internet) at rates similar to baseline. Beliefs about the occurrence of impossible events were similar (and low) across ages and testimony conditions. Implications for children’s learning from spoken and text-based sources are discussed.