DEVELOPMENT OF LYING TO CONCEAL A TRANSGRESSION IN CHILDREN

Abstract

The present study examined the development of lie-telling behaviour in young Singaporean children and its relation to theory of mind and inhibitory control. This study is the first to examine (1) whether there are differences in lie-telling behaviour between bilinguals and monolinguals, and (2) whether theory of mind contributes to the relationship between mono-bilingualism and lie-telling behaviour. The present study used the temptation resistance paradigm, in which children were left alone in a room with instructions not to peek at a music-playing toy placed behind their back. Lie-telling behaviour was measured via initial denials of their transgression of peeking at the toy, and subsequent verbal statements following the initial denial. 73.5% children peeked and 68% of peekers later lied about their peeking. However, most children had poor semantic leakage control as their subsequent statements leaked their initial lie. Results revealed that children’s ability to maintain their lies increases with age and is related to their theory of mind understanding. Moreover, monolinguals show higher rates of lie-telling behaviour and more advanced theory of mind understanding as compared to bilinguals.