EFFECT OF STRATEGIC BEHAVIOUR TRAINING ON YOUNG CHILDREN’S UNDERSTANDING OF DECEPTIVE INTENT

Abstract

As children face a vast amount of information when learning about the world, they are inherently constrained by deceptive information from others (Shafto et al., 2012). This study investigated whether the use of a strategic behaviour training approach can promote young children’s understanding of deceptive intentions in socio-behavioural and cognitive tasks. Seventy-three-three-year-old children were randomly assigned to either the experimental or control condition, where they received strategic behaviour or conservation training respectively. Children’s changes of strategic behaviour, epistemic vigilance, and theory-ofmind (ToM) understanding were assessed in the pretest phase and a posttest reassessment was completed after their respective trainings. After training, compared to children in the control condition, children in the experimental condition had a significant improvement in strategic behaviour. Though their epistemic vigilance increased, it did not attain a statistically significant trend. Lastly, there was no improvement in children’s ToM. Together, the findings shed light on a causal model that support a strategic behaviour training approach in promoting children’s understanding of deceptive intent. Importantly, we see the benefits of the training extend to children’s critical thinking performance in tasks involving deception.