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…

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…

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)

To determine whether children younger than four have an authentic theory of mind, studies relying on deceptive hiding measures for indexing false belief were carried out. Children accurately anticipated the impact of deceptive strategies on the behavior and belief of opponents and used information management to help and hinder others' efforts. (BC)

Two experiments tested two, three, and four year olds' ability to understand false beliefs. Results of both experiments support earlier claims that an understanding of false beliefs and deceptive ploys emerges at around age four. Two and three year olds can be led to produce such ploys but show no clear understanding of their effect. (GLR)

Examined three- to five-year-old children's understanding of pretense and deception in folktales in which a villain deceived his victim by pretending to be someone else. Found that the three-year-olds were able to follow the pretense but were not able to grasp the false belief integral to the deception. (MOK)