Emergence of lying in very young children.

Abstract

Lying is a pervasive human behavior. Evidence to date suggests that from the age of 42 months onward, children become increasingly capable of telling lies in various social situations. However, there is limited experimental evidence regarding whether very young children will tell lies spontaneously. The present study investigated the emergence of lying in very young children. Sixty-five 2- to 3-year-olds were asked not to peek at a toy when the experimenter was not looking. The majority of children (80%) transgressed and peeked at the toy. When asked whether they had peeked at the toy, most 2-year-old peekers were honest and confessed to their peeking, but with increased age, more peekers denied peeking and thus lied. However, when asked follow-up questions that assessed their ability to maintain their initial lies, most children failed to conceal their lie by pretending to be ignorant of the toy’s identity. Additionally, after controlling for age, children’s executive functioning skills significantly predicted young children’s tendency to lie. These findings suggest that children begin to tell lies at a very young age.

Detecting children’s lies: Are parents accurate judges of their own children’s lies?

“…Anecdotal evidence and observational studies suggest that children begin telling lies in the preschool years, with some lies appearing as early as two years of age (Evans & Lee, 2013;Newton et al, 2000;Wilson et al, 2003). The most frequent lies that children tell tend to be lies to conceal misdeeds (Newton et al, 2000;Stouthamer-Loeber, 1986;Wilson et al, 2003).…”

The roles of liar intention, lie content, and theory of mind in children’s evaluation of lies

“…One recent study reported that children start to tell lies to conceal transgressions before their third birthday (Evans & Lee, 2013). This study, and many others, used the temptation resistance paradigm, (false) belief works in relation to the perception and behavior of the lie recipient (Chandler, Fritz, & Hala, 1989;Peskin, 1992;.…”

Automated decoding of facial expressions reveals marked differences in children when telling antisocial versus prosocial lies

“…Children tell lies as early as 2-years-old (Evans & Lee, 2013) and their ability to tell convincing lies improves with age. Whereas 2-to 5-year-olds often stumble during lie-telling and reveal their dishonest behavior, they often become sophisticated lietellers by 6 years of age (see Lee, 2013, for a review).…”