Abstract: The study was aimed to investigate children's ability to make trust judgment based on two different trustworthiness traits (benevolence and competence) and trust-related scenarios. 120 children aged 4 to 7 were included and the adapted dual choice paradigm was used in the study. The results showed that:(1) In the scenario related to benevolence, the judgment accuracy of 4 to 7 year-old children was significantly higher than the random level. However, in the scenario related to competence, only 6-year-old and 7-year-old children's judgment accuracy was significantly higher than the random level; (2) Based on their understanding of trustworthiness traits and trust-related scenarios, 6-year-old children already had the ability to make the right judgment of trust. Even so, these children made better judgments in the scenario related to benevolence rather than in the scenario related to competence. However, 7-year-old children did not show significant difference in both scenarios; (3) When taking both the trustworthiness traits and scenarios into consideration, 5 to 7 year-old children's judgment accuracy was significantly higher than the random level. Moreover, when comparing the judgment accuracy of children of different ages, both 6-year-old children and 7-year-old children did significantly better than 5-year-old children. These results suggest that when children up to 5 years old, they begin to develop the ability of considering both the trustworthiness traits and scenarios when making trust judgment. Furthermore, this kind of ability become mature and stable when children up to 7 years old.

Key words: Trustworthiness trait, Scenario, Trust