The ability to distinguish lies from sincere false statements requires understanding a speaker's communicative intentions and is argued to develop through linguistic interaction. We tested whether this ability was delayed in 26 children with severe-to-profound hearing loss who, based on vocabulary size, were thought to have relatively limited…

Young children struggle in the classic tests of appearance versus reality. In the current Study 1, 3-year-olds had to determine which of 2 objects (a deceptive or a nondeceptive one) an adult requested when asking for the "real X" versus "the one that looks like X." In Study 2, children of the same age had to indicate what a single deceptive…

This study investigated whether young children make strategic decisions about whether to lie to conceal a transgression based on the lie recipient's knowledge. In Experiment 1, 168 3- to 5-year-olds were asked not to peek at the toy in the experimenter's absence, and the majority of children peeked. Children were questioned about their…

The veracity of child witness testimony is central to the justice system where there are serious consequences for the child, the accused, and society. Thus, it is important to examine how children's lie-telling abilities develop and the factors that can influence their truthfulness. The current review examines children's lie-telling ability in…

The ability of 3- and 4-year-old children to disregard advice from an overtly misleading informant was investigated across five studies (total "n" =212). Previous studies have documented limitations in young children's ability to reject misleading advice. This study was designed to test the hypothesis that these limitations are primarily…

Prior research suggests that children younger than age 3 or 4 do not understand that an agent may be deceived by an object's misleading appearance. The authors asked whether 14.5-month-olds would give evidence in a violation-of-expectation task that they understand that agents may form false perceptions. Infants first watched events in which an…

The relation between children's lie-telling and their social and cognitive development was examined. Children (3-8 years) were told not to peek at a toy. Most children peeked and later lied about peeking. Children's subsequent verbal statements were not always consistent with their initial denial and leaked critical information revealing their…

This study examined age differences in children's vulnerability to be misled by two types of false overheard rumors, namely a rumor that suggested a reasonable explanation for an earlier unresolved experience and a rumor that suggested an explanation that conflicted with information already in memory. Results indicated that all of the children…

Asserts that theory of mind is unique to humans and that its original function was to provide a more abstract level of describing ancient behavioral patterns, such as deception, reconciliation, and gaze following. Suggests that initial selective advantage of theory of mind may have been increased flexibility of already-existing behaviors, not…

Three studies examined how reducing the executive function demands of a measure of strategic deception, the windows task, would affect 3-year-olds' performance. Findings demonstrated that providing an artificial response medium, even in the presence of an opponent, and having children play in partnership enabled them to adopt a successful…

Used stories involving self-deception, lying, and misleading appearances to examine 4- to 9-year olds' understanding of the relations between false belief, evidence, and epistemic responsibility. Found that younger children who understood false belief understood simpler types of deception but that understanding self-deceivers' epistemic…

Three studies examined whether preschoolers' difficulties with deception and false belief arise from lack of inhibitory control rather than conceptual deficit. Found that 3-year olds deceived frequently under conditions requiring relatively low inhibitory control, but not high inhibitory control. Findings were not due to social intimidation, and…

Investigated the ability of 56 children of 2-4 years to deceptively lead others into false beliefs. Results show that 2 1/2-year-olds already practice a variety of deceptive strategies that presuppose an operative theory of mind. (RJC)

Investigated what makes young children acknowledge a false belief held by another person. Showed movies in which a stereotypical item in a familiar box was replaced by one character with an atypical item. Found highly significant improvement in preschoolers' acknowledgment of second character's false belief when preschoolers saw stereotypical…

Examined deception and false-belief understanding in preschoolers following noncompliance. Found that over half of 3- and 5-year olds touched a prohibited toy during experimenter's absence and most denied it. Almost all preschoolers looked into a forbidden box, most denied it, and a minority consistently feigned ignorance of contents. False-belief…