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Gordon-Hecker T, Shalvi S, Uzefovsky F, Bereby-Meyer Y. Cognitive empathy boosts honesty in children and young adolescents. J Exp Child Psychol 2024; 241:105869. [PMID: 38350253 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2024.105869] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/30/2023] [Revised: 09/11/2023] [Accepted: 01/12/2024] [Indexed: 02/15/2024]
Abstract
Children and young adolescents often tend to behave dishonestly in order to serve their self-interests. This study focused on how empathic abilities affect children's tendency to deceive others. Deception is the act of causing others to form a false belief to get them to act in a way that serves the deceiver's interests. As such, it requires the ability to predict how others might use the provided information. In two experiments, 274 participants (aged 10-16 years) played a game in which they could send a deceptive message to another participant to boost their own payoff at the other player's expense. We measured participants' cognitive and emotional empathy using different measures. We found that a measure of cognitive empathy, namely the fantasy scale, was associated with less deception of another player when that other player was not identified and was presented only as "Player B." However, when Player B was identified by name, empathy did not predict deception. In such cases, the only factors affecting deception rates were the gain for the participant (higher possible gains lead to more deception) and loss to the other player (higher possible losses lead to less deception). Overall, the findings suggest that even by 11 years of age, children can understand the impact of their unethical behavior on another child and adjust their actions accordingly. However, when the other child is not identified, children need to possess high levels of cognitive empathy toward imagined individuals to resist the temptation to deceive the other child.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Shaul Shalvi
- University of Amsterdam, 1018 WB Amsterdam, The Netherlands
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2
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Low PHX, Kyeong Y, Setoh P. Parenting by lying and children's lying to parents: The moderating role of children's beliefs. J Exp Child Psychol 2024; 240:105837. [PMID: 38183877 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2023.105837] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/13/2023] [Revised: 12/09/2023] [Accepted: 12/11/2023] [Indexed: 01/08/2024]
Abstract
How are children socialized about lying? One way is parental modeling of lying given that parents tell various lies to their children for parenting purposes, which is a practice known as parenting by lying. Importantly, how children perceive and interpret the lying behavior around them may be crucial to how they then learn to lie. Yet, we do not know how children's perceptions of different types of parental lies drive this socialization. In a comprehensive birth cohort of parent-child dyads (N = 564; children aged 11 and 12 years) in Singapore, we collected multi-informant reports of instrumental lies (parental lies told for child compliance) and white lies (parental lies told to instill positive emotions), children's belief in parental lies, and children's lying to parents. We found greater consistency in parent and child reports of instrumental lies than of white lies and that children reported greater belief in instrumental lies than in white lies. Children's reported exposure to instrumental lies was associated with greater lying to parents. However, for white lies this relationship was evident only when children had moderate to low beliefs in parental lies. Examining the interplay between parental lies and children's beliefs in those lies, the current study illuminates the potential pathways to children's lying behaviors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Petrina Hui Xian Low
- Division of Psychology, School of Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 639818, Singapore.
| | - Yena Kyeong
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117570, Singapore.
| | - Peipei Setoh
- Division of Psychology, School of Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 639818, Singapore.
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3
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Zhang X, Wang S, Wang Y, Zhao Q, Shang S, Sai L. Other-Benefiting Lying Behavior in Preschool Children and Its Relation to Theory of Mind and Empathy. Behav Sci (Basel) 2023; 13:634. [PMID: 37622774 PMCID: PMC10451630 DOI: 10.3390/bs13080634] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/24/2023] [Revised: 07/27/2023] [Accepted: 07/28/2023] [Indexed: 08/26/2023] Open
Abstract
The present study examined children's lies to help others obtain benefits (other-benefiting lying) and its relation to theory of mind (ToM) and empathy among 3-5-year-old preschool children. One hundred nine children were recruited from preschools in China. A modified hide-and-seek paradigm was used to measure children's other-benefiting lying behavior, a ToM scale was used to measure children's ToM abilities, and an empathy scale was used to measure children's empathy abilities. Results showed that children tended to tell more lies to help other to get benefits as age increased, and further analyses showed that this other-benefiting lying was related to children's ToM component of false belief understanding and their cognitive empathy performance. These findings provide evidence that cognitive factors play important roles in children's lying to help others.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiaoyan Zhang
- Department of Psychology, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou 311121, China
- Shengzhou Wuai Kindergarten, Shengzhou 312400, China
| | - Shenqinyi Wang
- Department of Psychology, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou 311121, China
| | - Ying Wang
- Department of Psychology, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou 311121, China
| | - Qiuming Zhao
- Department of Psychology, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou 311121, China
| | - Siyuan Shang
- Department of Psychology, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou 311121, China
| | - Liyang Sai
- Department of Psychology, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou 311121, China
- Zhejiang Philosophy and Social Science Laboratory for Research in Early Development and Childcare, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou 311121, China
- Zhejiang Key Laboratory for Research in Assessment of Cognitive Impairments, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou 311121, China
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4
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Kabha L, Berger A. When kindergarteners are tempted to deceive: A study of factors predicting lie-telling for personal gain. J Exp Child Psychol 2023; 233:105697. [PMID: 37224705 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2023.105697] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/25/2022] [Revised: 04/16/2023] [Accepted: 04/17/2023] [Indexed: 05/26/2023]
Abstract
The current study examined the relations between children's cognitive and emotion abilities with their likelihood to tell a lie for personal gain in a tempting situation. These relations were examined using behavioral tasks and questionnaires. A total of 202 Israel Arab Muslim kindergarten children participated in this study. Our results showed that behavioral self-regulation was positively associated with children's likelihood to tell a lie for personal gain. Children with higher behavioral self-regulation actually tended to lie more for their own gain, suggesting that the likelihood to tell a lie might be related to children's ability to mobilize and integrate their cognitive abilities to self-regulate their behavior. In addition, through exploratory analysis, we found a positive relation between theory of mind and children's likelihood to tell a lie, which was moderated by inhibition. Specifically, only among children with low inhibition was there a positive correlation between their theory of mind and the likelihood to lie. Moreover, age and gender were related to children's lie-telling; older children tended more to lie for their own gain, and this likelihood was higher for boys than for girls.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lena Kabha
- Department of Psychology, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel; Department of Education, Al-Qasemi Academic College, Baqa-El-Gharbia, Israel.
| | - Andrea Berger
- Department of Psychology, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel; School of Brain Sciences and Cognition, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel
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5
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Prodan N, Moldovan M, Cacuci SA, Visu-Petra L. Interpretive Diversity Understanding, Parental Practices, and Contextual Factors Involved in Primary School-age Children's Cheating and Lying Behavior. Eur J Investig Health Psychol Educ 2022; 12:1621-1643. [PMID: 36421320 PMCID: PMC9689038 DOI: 10.3390/ejihpe12110114] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/31/2022] [Revised: 10/14/2022] [Accepted: 11/08/2022] [Indexed: 08/21/2023] Open
Abstract
Dishonesty is an interpersonal process that relies on sophisticated socio-cognitive mechanisms embedded in a complex network of individual and contextual factors. The present study examined parental rearing practices, bilingualism, socioeconomic status, and children's interpretive diversity understanding (i.e., the ability to understand the constructive nature of the human mind) in relation to their cheating and lie-telling behavior. 196 school-age children (9-11 years old) participated in a novel trivia game-like temptation resistance paradigm to elicit dishonesty and to verify their interpretive diversity understanding. Results revealed that children's decision to cheat and lie was positively associated with their understanding of the constructive nature of the human mind and with parental rejection. Children with rejective parents were more likely to lie compared to their counterparts. This may suggest that understanding social interactions and the relationship with caregivers can impact children's cheating behavior and the extent to which they are willing to deceive about it. Understanding the constructive nature of the mind was also a positive predictor of children's ability to maintain their lies. Finally, being bilingual and having a higher socioeconomic status positively predicted children's deception, these intriguing results warranting further research into the complex network of deception influences.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | - Laura Visu-Petra
- Research in Individual Differences and Legal Psychology (RIDDLE) Lab, Department of Psychology, Babeș-Bolyai University, 400015 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
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6
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Seucan DT, Szekely-Copîndean RD, Ding XP, Visu-Petra L. Give and take: A microgenetic study of preschoolers' deceptive and prosocial behavior in relation to their socio-cognitive development. Acta Psychol (Amst) 2022; 230:103714. [PMID: 36027708 DOI: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2022.103714] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/28/2022] [Revised: 08/12/2022] [Accepted: 08/16/2022] [Indexed: 11/01/2022] Open
Abstract
Early on, young children begin to learn the social skills which will help them navigate through an increasingly complex social world. We explored how deceiving for personal gain potentially interacts with sharing the resulting resources and how they both relate to theory of mind (ToM) and inhibitory control in 3- to 5-year-old children (N = 92, 43 girls). Children played a hide-and-seek zero-sum game in which they could win stickers if they discovered how to deceive the experimenter. Then they were prompted to share their stickers in a dictator game paradigm. Using a microgenetic design, we tracked deceptive behavior across ten sessions and sharing behavior across five of these sessions, plus a follow-up session 15 months later. Children polarized into a group who never deceived across all sessions, and a group who constantly deceived above chance levels (around 85 % of the time). Sharing behavior was extremely low (under 6 % of stickers) across the sessions. At follow-up, deceptive behavior was above 80 %, while sharing remained at a low level (under 5 %). The novelty of our findings was that children who initially discovered how to deceive shared less than the children who didn't use this deceptive strategy. Nonetheless, this pattern was reversed at follow-up. Furthermore, ToM positively predicted deceptive behavior across all sessions and improved after the microgenetic sessions but wasn't related with deception at follow-up. Implications for enabling children to deploy the growing understanding of their worlds in a more prosocial way are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Raluca Diana Szekely-Copîndean
- Department of Psychology, Babeș-Bolyai University, 400015 Cluj-Napoca, Romania; Department of Social and Human Research, Romanian Academy, 400015 Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
| | - Xiao Pan Ding
- Department of Psychology, National University of Singapore, 117570 Singapore, Singapore.
| | - Laura Visu-Petra
- Department of Psychology, Babeș-Bolyai University, 400015 Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
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7
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Cross-sectional and longitudinal relationships between children's moral standards and their antisocial lie telling. JOURNAL OF APPLIED DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.appdev.2022.101411] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
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8
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Guo CX, Rochat P. Children’s cost–benefit assessment of lies across three cultures. J Exp Child Psychol 2022; 217:105355. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2021.105355] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/29/2020] [Revised: 11/22/2021] [Accepted: 12/14/2021] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
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9
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Talwar V, Lavoie J. Lie-telling for personal gain in children with and without externalizing behavior problems. J Exp Child Psychol 2022; 219:105385. [PMID: 35217368 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2022.105385] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/16/2021] [Revised: 12/03/2021] [Accepted: 01/18/2022] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
Abstract
Few studies have examined the lie-telling behavior of children who have externalizing problems using experimental procedures. In the current study, children's lie-telling for personal gain (N = 110 boys aged 6-11 years) was examined using an experimental paradigm in relation to their theory-of-mind abilities and inhibitory control as well as their moral evaluations of truths and lies. Children with externalizing behavior problems (n = 53) were significantly more likely to lie and to be less skilled at lying than a typical comparison group (n = 57). Children who had lower theory-of-mind scores were significantly less likely to tell a lie for personal gain compared with those who had higher theory-of-mind scores. Children with externalizing problems who told personal gain lies were also more likely to rate tattle truths more positively than other children. For a subsample of children (n = 55), parent-reported diaries of the frequency of children's lies over 2 weeks revealed a higher frequency of lies by children with externalizing problems compared with the typical comparison group. Children whose parents reported a high frequency of lies for their children were also more likely to lie in the experimental personal gain lie paradigm. Results suggest that children with externalizing behavior may have a different pattern of lie-telling than has been previously reported for normative lie development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Victoria Talwar
- Department of Educational & Counselling Psychology, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec H3A 1Y2, Canada.
| | - Jennifer Lavoie
- Moray House School of Education and Sport, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH8 8AQ, UK
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10
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Martins MJD, Veiga Simão AM, Estevão B, Roberto MS. The concept of lying, moral reasoning and children's willingness to lie at the request of an adult. New Dir Child Adolesc Dev 2022; 2021:93-110. [PMID: 34973044 DOI: 10.1002/cad.20451] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022]
Abstract
This research aims to understand how children conceptualise lying and how they associate it with moral reasoning within a narrative that contains everyday moral transgressions. This study also explores whether children are willing to lie when they are asked to do so by close adults, such as mothers, fathers and teachers, even after declaring that lying is wrong. We interviewed children (N = 146) from first to fourth grade on these themes, and discovered a developmental trend in the concept of lying, which is associated with other moral reasoning dimensions. Most children could define lying in a reasonable and accurate manner, and considered it inappropriate behaviour, but half admitted to lying after a close adult requested it.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maria José D Martins
- Polytechnic Institute of Portalegre, Research Centre for Endogenous Resource Valorisation, Valoriza, Portalegre, Portugal
| | - Ana Margarida Veiga Simão
- CICPSI - Faculty of Psychology, Research Center for Psychological Science, University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal
| | | | - Magda Sofia Roberto
- CICPSI - Faculty of Psychology, Research Center for Psychological Science, University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal
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11
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Zhao C, Shang S, Compton AM, Fu G, Sai L. A Longitudinal Study of the Relations Between Theory of Mind, Executive Function, and Lying in Children. Front Psychol 2021; 12:766891. [PMID: 34955986 PMCID: PMC8703068 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.766891] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/30/2021] [Accepted: 11/22/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
This study used longitudinal cross-lagged modeling to examine the contribution of theory of mind (ToM), executive function (EF) to children’s lying development and of children’s lying to ToM and EF development. Ninety-seven Chinese children (initial Mage = 46 months, 47 boys) were tested three times approximately 4 months apart. Results showed that the diverse desire understanding and knowledge access understanding components of ToM, as well as the inhibitory control component of EF predicted the development of children’s lying, while the diverse belief understanding and false belief understanding components of ToM, and the working memory component of EF did not predict development of children’s lying. Meanwhile, children’s lying predicted development of children’s belief-emotion understanding components of ToM, but not any other ToM components, or EF components. These findings provide longitudinal evidence for the relation between ToM, EF, and children’s lying during the preschool years.
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Affiliation(s)
- Changzhi Zhao
- Department of Psychology, College of Education, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China.,Center for Cognition and Brain Disorders, The Affiliated Hospital of Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Siyuan Shang
- Department of Psychology, College of Education, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Alison M Compton
- Department of Psychology, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, United States
| | - Genyue Fu
- Department of Psychology, College of Education, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Liyang Sai
- Department of Psychology, College of Education, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China
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12
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Tong D, Talwar V. Understanding the development of honesty in children through the
domains‐of‐socialization
approach. INFANT AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT 2021. [DOI: 10.1002/icd.2268] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Donia Tong
- Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology McGill University Montreal Quebec Canada
| | - Victoria Talwar
- Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology McGill University Montreal Quebec Canada
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13
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Wang Y, Hong S, Pei M, Wang X, Su Y. Emotion matters in early polite lies: Preschoolers’ polite lie‐telling in relation to cognitive and emotion‐related abilities. SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT 2021. [DOI: 10.1111/sode.12549] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Yiyi Wang
- School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences Peking University Beijing China
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health Peking University Beijing China
| | - Skylar Hong
- School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences Peking University Beijing China
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health Peking University Beijing China
| | - Meng Pei
- School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences Peking University Beijing China
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health Peking University Beijing China
| | - Xiaonan Wang
- School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences Peking University Beijing China
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health Peking University Beijing China
| | - Yanjie Su
- School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences Peking University Beijing China
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health Peking University Beijing China
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14
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Talwar V, Lavoie J, Crossman AM. Socialization of lying scale: development and validation of a parent measure of socialization of truth and lie-telling behavior. APPLIED DEVELOPMENTAL SCIENCE 2021. [DOI: 10.1080/10888691.2021.1927732] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
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15
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Jakubowska J, Filip A, Białecka-Pikul M. The coin that is most current is flattery? Stability and discontinuity of false praise-telling from 5 to 7 years of life. J Exp Child Psychol 2021; 207:105128. [PMID: 33761405 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2021.105128] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/08/2020] [Revised: 02/09/2021] [Accepted: 02/09/2021] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
Preschool children engage in flattery behaviors, including expressing opinions toward other people or objects that-although favorable-are not truly held. Research shows that in the following years, the number and complexity of motives underlying such insincere behavior increase. The current study focused on children's overt behavior, examining two aspects of the development of false praise-telling: individual stability and group-level discontinuity. Using an art-rating task, a total of 164 children aged 5 to 7 years were tested at three points in time (T1/2/3): MT1 age = 5.66 years, SD = 0.1; MT2 age = 6.65 years, SD = 0.16; MT3 age = 7.61 years, SD = 0.14. The results show that, having become capable of giving false praise in politeness settings at 5.5 years of age, children continue to flatter others in this way at later ages, indicating that false praise-telling is an individually stable characteristic. In addition, a statistically significant increase in the proportion of false praise-telling to non-lying behavior in children over the 2-year study period was observed. This indicates that the discontinuity, namely the growth in children's flattery behavior, occurs from 5 to 7 years of age. The findings are discussed with respect to the diverse factors that might underlie and affect children's tendency to praise others falsely in politeness settings.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joanna Jakubowska
- Stefan Szuman Department of Developmental and Educational Psychology, Institute of Psychology, Jagiellonian University, 30-060 Kraków, Poland.
| | - Anna Filip
- Stefan Szuman Department of Developmental and Educational Psychology, Institute of Psychology, Jagiellonian University, 30-060 Kraków, Poland
| | - Marta Białecka-Pikul
- Stefan Szuman Department of Developmental and Educational Psychology, Institute of Psychology, Jagiellonian University, 30-060 Kraków, Poland
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16
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Sai L, Shang S, Tay C, Liu X, Sheng T, Fu G, Ding XP, Lee K. Theory of mind, executive function, and lying in children: a meta-analysis. Dev Sci 2021; 24:e13096. [PMID: 33544950 DOI: 10.1111/desc.13096] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/29/2020] [Revised: 01/28/2021] [Accepted: 01/29/2021] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
Abstract
Scientific research on how children learn to tell lies has existed for more than a century. Earlier studies mainly focused on moral, social, and situational factors contributing to the development of lying. Researchers have only begun to explore the cognitive correlations of children's lying in the last two decades. Cognitive theories suggest that theory of mind (ToM) and executive function (EF) should be closely related to the development of lying since lying is, in essence, ToM and EF in action. Yet, findings from empirical studies are mixed. To address this issue, the current meta-analysis reviewed all prior literature that examined the relations between children's lying and ToM and/or between children's lying and EF. In total, 47 papers consisting of 5099 participants between 2 and 19 years of age were included, which yielded 74 effect sizes for ToM and 94 effect sizes for EF. Statistically significant but relatively small effects were found between children's lying and ToM (r = .17) and between lying and EF (r = .13). Furthermore, EF's correlation with children's initial lies was significantly smaller than its correlation with children's ability to maintain lies. This comprehensive meta-analysis provides a clear picture of the associations between children's ToM/EF and their lying behavior and confirms that ToM and EF indeed play a positive role in children's lying and its development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Liyang Sai
- Institute of Psychological Sciences, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Siyuan Shang
- Institute of Psychological Sciences, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Cleo Tay
- Department of Psychology, National University of Singapore, Singapore
| | - Xingchen Liu
- Institute of Psychological Sciences, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Tingwen Sheng
- Institute of Psychological Sciences, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Genyue Fu
- Institute of Psychological Sciences, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Xiao Pan Ding
- Department of Psychology, National University of Singapore, Singapore
| | - Kang Lee
- Department of Psychology, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua, China.,Dr. Eric Jackman Institute of Child Study, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
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17
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Demedardi MJ, Brechet C, Gentaz E, Monnier C. Prosocial lying in children between 4 and 11 years of age: The role of emotional understanding and empathy. J Exp Child Psychol 2020; 203:105045. [PMID: 33310484 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2020.105045] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/20/2020] [Revised: 05/28/2020] [Accepted: 10/31/2020] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
This study examined whether emotional understanding and empathy were predictors of prosocial lying in children aged 4 to 11 years. A total of 144 children participated in the study. To assess children's prosocial lying, we used the Helping Scenario, a classical experimental paradigm that allows children to lie to help others at their own expense. Children's emotional understanding was assessed using the Test of Emotion Comprehension, a test that measures the nine components of emotional understanding. Children's empathy was assessed using the Griffith Empathy Measure, a questionnaire completed by parents that measures affective and cognitive empathy. Results indicated that emotional understanding plays a crucial role in the development of children's ability to produce prosocial lies from 4 to 11 years of age. However, we found no significant relationship between empathy and prosocial lying. Finally, our results confirm that as children grew up, they lied more and more effectively. Overall, the results allow us to better understand the factors that contribute to the emergence and development of children's ability to produce prosocial lies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marie-Julie Demedardi
- Univ Paul Valéry Montpellier 3, Univ Montpellier, EPSYLON EA 4556, F34000 Montpellier, France
| | - Claire Brechet
- Univ Paul Valéry Montpellier 3, Univ Montpellier, EPSYLON EA 4556, F34000 Montpellier, France
| | - Edouard Gentaz
- Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Geneva, 1205 Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Catherine Monnier
- Univ Paul Valéry Montpellier 3, Univ Montpellier, EPSYLON EA 4556, F34000 Montpellier, France.
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18
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Ding XP, Teo SLY, Tay C. The link between parental mental state talk and children's lying: An indirect effect via false belief understanding. J Exp Child Psychol 2020; 201:104990. [PMID: 32977115 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2020.104990] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/28/2020] [Revised: 08/20/2020] [Accepted: 08/20/2020] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Abstract
Past research shows that parental mental state talk (MST) is closely associated with children's theory-of-mind (ToM) understanding. The current study extends previous work by investigating whether parental MST is also associated with children's ToM in action (i.e., lying). A total of 90 Singaporean 3- to 5-year-olds participated in this study with their parents. Parental MST was measured using a storytelling task with a wordless picture book. Mediation analysis revealed an indirect effect: Children's ToM understanding served as a mediator in the path between parental MST and children's lying, whereas there was no significant direct effect of parental MST on children's lying. This study is the first to focus on the relation between parental MST and ToM in an applied setting. Our findings suggest that parental MST can help children to develop sociocognitive skills, which in turn can help children to gain the insight that lying may be used as a strategy for personal gain.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiao Pan Ding
- Department of Psychology, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117570, Singapore.
| | - Sherann Ler Ying Teo
- Department of Psychology, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117570, Singapore
| | - Cleo Tay
- Department of Psychology, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117570, Singapore.
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