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Social and Cognitive Correlates of Children’s Lying Behavior
Author(s) -
Talwar Victoria,
Lee Kang
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
child development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.103
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1467-8624
pISSN - 0009-3920
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-8624.2008.01164.x
Subject(s) - lying , psychology , denial , theory of mind , cognition , developmental psychology , cognitive development , moral development , social cognition , social cognitive theory , false belief , deception , lie detection , social psychology , cognitive psychology , psychoanalysis , medicine , neuroscience , radiology
The relation between children’s lie‐telling and their social and cognitive development was examined. Children (3–8 years) were told not to peek at a toy. Most children peeked and later lied about peeking. Children’s subsequent verbal statements were not always consistent with their initial denial and leaked critical information revealing their deceit. Children’s conceptual moral understanding of lies, executive functioning, and theory‐of‐mind understanding were also assessed. Children’s initial false denials were related to their first‐order belief understanding and their inhibitory control. Children’s ability to maintain their lies was related to their second‐order belief understanding. Children’s lying was related to their moral evaluations. These findings suggest that social and cognitive factors may play an important role in children’s lie‐telling abilities.