No abstract

The process model of emotion regulation posits that the tendency to use cognitive reappraisal is associated with positive outcomes (e.g., greater positive emotion) while the tendency to use expressive suppression is associated with adverse outcomes (e.g., greater negative emotion). Many studies using adult samples support this theory. However, the development of the tendency to use cognitive reappraisal/expressive suppression and how these tendencies relate to depressive symptoms in adolescents remain unclear. To address these questions, 639 Chinese adolescents aged 12–18 years old were asked to report their tendency to use cognitive reappraisal/expressive suppression as well as their depressive symptoms. General linear model multivariate analysis of variance showed a statistically significant age effect for the tendency to use emotion regulation strategies. Further analysis found that these adolescents reported using less expressive suppression as age increased, while there was no age effect for the tendency to use cognitive reappraisal. Moreover, linear regression analysis revealed that the tendency to use cognitive reappraisal in daily life negatively influenced depressive symptoms, while the tendency to use expressive suppression in daily life positively influenced depressive symptoms. These findings provide evidence that support the development of emotion regulation strategies in childhood and adolescence.

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.

It is well established that children lie in different social contexts for various purposes from the age of 2 years. Surprisingly, little is known about whether very young children will spontaneously lie for personal gain, how self‐benefiting lies emerge, and what cognitive factors affect the emergence of self‐benefiting lies. To bridge this gap in the literature, we situated children between 2 and 4 years of age in a zero‐sum game where children must lie to their opponent if they wanted to win a desirable reward. We found that the majority of young children did not lie even when they experienced personal losses repeatedly. However, some children spontaneously lied during the game; as the game progressed, more children lied. Further, we found that children's theory of mind understanding and executive functioning in terms of a combination of inhibitory control and cognitive flexibility had significant positive and unique correlations with how frequently children lied for personal gain. The present results taken together with the existing findings regarding children's lies for self‐protection and politeness purposes suggest that the act of lying begins early in life. Further, its emergence and development are influenced by children's specific cognitive abilities in the domains of theory of mind understanding and executive functioning. Highlights The study investigated whether very young children will spontaneously lie for personal gain. This study used a zero‐sum game to elicit children's self‐benefiting lies. Results showed the majority of young children did not lie, and it is related to children's theory of mind understanding and executive functioning. The act of lying begins early in life, and its emergence and development are influenced by children's specific cognitive abilities in the domains of theory of mind understanding and executive functioning.