As an adult, you’re not going to be swayed by a confident speaker. You need to see some evidence before you start trusting them. However, that’s rarely the case with children.
Children believe anything they see or hear and they are always looking towards adults for guidance on various matters. They also happen to be fast learners, often, picking up on the behavior of others around them. However, this isn’t always a good thing as children can get misled by the wrong kind of information. What’s worse is that some of this information can be deliberately wrong.
Children will believe this information as they lack the necessary skills to critically analyze and question it.
Fortunately, a new study indicates that children’s’ belief in information is regulated by age. To put it simply, as they age, they become a little more critical of what they see or hear. The study, which was published in PLUS One and conducted by researchers from the University of British Columbia and Concordia, found that children aged 5 were able to trust speakers who told the truth, despite the hesitation in their speaking abilities. On the other hand, the children aged 4 trusted both, the confident liar and the hesitant truth speaker.
A total of 192 children were used for the study: 96 5 year olds and 96 4 years olds.
They were allowed to view two short videos, where 2 different adults spoke about common animals. One adult lied with confidence, while the other spoke the truth with hesitation. The children were also asked to view two more videos where the two adults spoke of not so common animals, while maintaining their respective states of lying and being truthful.
The 5 year old children were able to differentiate between the lie and the truth, despite them not being aware of the animals being discussed in the video.
The study showed that even a year’s worth of aging in children was enough to develop their critical thinking skills, skepticism, and social cognition. What this means is, children develop the ability to evaluate the source of information from a very young age.
Marketers and Advertisers must take this into consideration when promoting a product or service to people, especially children. If the video voiceover isn’t confident enough, viewers, even young children, won’t take you seriously.
That’s why, hiring a voiceover artist who can speak confidently is very important. Consumers are very critical about what they see. If a 5 year old child can doubt your message, imagine what an adult is capable of. If the voiceover isn’t confident, you’re looking at failure, no matter how well-done your video or how great the product is.
About Roberta
Roberta is a Professional AND International Award Winning trained Voice-Over Actor, as well as an accomplished On-Camera Actress and Spokesperson. She is the owner of Roberta Kennedy Voice Talent and RK Productions, Inc.
As a professional voice actor located in the San Francisco Bay Area, she’s recorded Voiceovers for companies around the world using her state of the art, broadcast quality studio. Her home studio is equipped with state-of-the-art ipDTL and ISDN with phone patch capability and lightning fast turnaround times.
A Voiceover talent with over 20 years of voiceover acting experience, she offers a full range of voiceover services at highly competitive rates & will work with your budget to help you promote your business to new levels of excellence!
To request a personal quote or audition and/or to review more of her credits & demos, feel free to visit her website: www.robertakennedy.com. You can also mail her at roberta@robertakennedy.com or give her a call at (408) 313-7202.