Doubt

Childhood

Different types of self-doubt in childhood are distinguished according to children’s ability to monitor it. Young children may experience doubt but lack conscious awareness of it. At later stages, they become aware of doubt but cannot recognize it. Finally, children gain the conscious awareness and recognition of doubt. Consistent with this development, children’s ability to reflect on certainty or doubt about their memory accuracy develops between ages 3 and 5 (e.g., spending more time processing or retrieving information when doubtful). At this age, when children are unsure about the answer and receive help, they respond more slowly if help does not reduce doubt. Importantly, children are more capable of saying explicitly that they feel certain than that they feel doubtful, a fact that indicates that certainty monitoring comes before doubt monitoring. Finally, preschoolers intentionally regulate their performance accuracy by withholding inaccurate information if they receive instructions to do so (e.g., they answer “I don’t know” if they have been instructed to do so when they are uncertain). By the age of 3, children start responding on the basis of certainty (i.e., responding when they are confident and refraining when they are in doubt). However, there appears to be a developmental period in which monitoring and control are dissociated, such that young children gain metacognitive control of doubt before they can consciously reflect on it.

Beyond self-doubt, research has also focused on children’s capacity to understand other people’s doubt. This approach is based on theory of mind (the ability to attribute mental states to others and understand that others’ mental states may differ from one’s own). In this sense, by age 4, children start identifying expressions of certainty or doubt and understand that someone who says “I know” expresses less doubt than someone who says “I think” or “I guess”; this process is apparently complete by 5 years of age.

Over the Life Span

Doubt also influences later psychological functioning. Evidence suggests that greater freedom in life choices actually creates (vs. reduces) doubt during early adulthood because greater freedom of choice introduces doubt over one’s choices. Doubt predicts distress throughout life, but the strength of the effects of doubt declines potentially because greater psychological maturation renders older adults better at tolerating doubt. Age-related deterioration in the ventral medial prefrontal cortex also reduces the ability to experience (vs. cope with) doubt.

Negative Consequences

Doubt develops when the child receives mixed messages regarding conditions of parental love. Once developed, doubt has negative consequences, including increasing vulnerability to self-esteem losses under threat. Thus, people develop different strategies to cope with doubt. Unfortunately, despite relieving momentary doubt, these strategies often perpetuate chronic doubt.

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