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Lie-telling and impulsivity levels peak during late childhood to early adolescence and have been suggested to be related. Heightened impulsivity may lead adolescents to lie in favor of short-term benefits without consideration for the potential consequences of deception. The present study assessed longitudinal relations between self-reported impulsivity and lie-telling frequency. Participants from a large-scale longitudinal study (N = 1148; M[subscript age] = 11.55, SD = 1.69, 9-15 years at Time 1) reported on their impulsivity (Barratt Impulsiveness Scale) and their frequency of lie-telling to parents, to teachers, to friends, and about cheating across two time points 1 year apart. Cross-lagged path analysis revealed greater impulsivity was associated with more frequent lie-telling to parents, friends, and teachers, and about cheating over time. Our findings demonstrate the role of impulsivity in the development of lie-telling behaviors.

Research has explored age-related and cultural differences in moral evaluations of dishonesty; however, this has not yet been examined in an aging context. The present study provided a novel account of how younger and older adults (in Canada, Singapore, and China; N = 401) morally evaluate adults' truths and lies in antisocial, modesty, and politeness settings. Participants completed a questionnaire assessing how acceptable it is for adults to tell the truth or a lie in given social scenarios, and they reported on their levels of collectivism and individualism. In all countries, older adults provided more favorable evaluations to blunt and immodest truths than younger adults did. Compared with younger adults, older adults provided harsher evaluations to Polite Lies (in Canada and China) and Modesty Lies (in Canada and Singapore). Thus, there may be an age-related increase in the acceptability of direct honesty over good-intentioned lies, and this age effect is somewhat stable across cultures. Older adults were also more lenient in evaluations of an antisocial lie to conceal an affair compared to younger adults. Overall, adults in China tended to rate lies less negatively, and their greater levels of collectivism mediated their greater approval of polite lies. The present results demonstrate that evaluations of (dis)honesty differ as a function of age and culture and these results can assist in developing a more complete lifespan model of the morality of dishonesty., Author(s): Alison M. O'Connor [sup.1] [sup.4] , Deston Chung Eng Kea [sup.2] , Qinggong Li [sup.3] , Xiao Pan Ding [sup.2] , Angela D. Evans [sup.1] Author Affiliations: (1) https://ror.org/056am2717, [...]

Self-report research indicates that dishonesty decreases across adulthood; however, behavioral measures of dishonesty have yet to be examined across younger and older adults. The present study examined younger and older adults' cheating behaviors in relation to their self-reported honesty-humility. Younger (N = 112) and older adults (N = 85) completed a matrix task where they had the opportunity to falsely inflate their performance. Participants also completed the self-report measure of honesty-humility from the HEXACO-PI-R. Older adults were significantly less likely to cheat and had higher ratings of honesty-humility compared to younger adults. Greater honesty-humility predicted lower cheating behavior. These results demonstrate that older adults show greater rates of honesty and humility compared to younger adults using both behavioral and self-report methods.

Children's developing understanding of language may influence their ability to accurately respond to questions inquiring about their event knowledge (i.e., Why and How Come questions), potentially creating misinterpretations in adult-child communication. The present study examined 120 5-, 7-, and 9-year-old's accuracy in responding to Why and How Come questions about the cause of their behaviors. Children's accuracy improved with age, highlighting a developmental milestone whereby children become highly accurate by 7 years of age. Further, the semantic differences in question type did not influence children's responses, as there were no differences in children's accuracy when answering Why or How Come questions. The findings from this study highlight the developmental shift in children's abilities to answer Why and How Come questions, and thus the importance of considering the age and linguistic abilities of the child when inquiring about their event knowledge.

Adults often fail to recognize the ambiguity of children's unelaborated responses to "Do you know/remember (DYK/R) if/whether" questions. Two studies examined whether sample questions and/or an explicit instruction would improve adults' ability to recognize referential ambiguity in children's testimony. In Study 1 (N = 383), participants rarely recognized referential ambiguity in the sample questions or in children's testimony, and answering sample questions had no influence on their ability to detect ambiguity in children's testimony. Study 2 (N = 363) attempted to clarify the meaning of ambiguity for participants with explicit instructions. Results revealed that although an explicit instruction improved performance on sample questions, this also led to an overcorrection, and instructions and sample questions only modestly improved adults' ability to recognize referential ambiguity in children's testimony. Ultimately, the absence of an effective strategy for alerting adults to the problem of referential ambiguity highlights the dangers of DYK/R if/whether questions.

Accurate event sequencing can add critical detail to a child's account. However, our knowledge of sequencing in childhood to date primarily centers on distinct events separated by time. Sequencing a single event's components is also important, perhaps particularly in a forensic context. In two experiments, we explored children's ability to recall the sequence of a past event using a variety of prompts. In Experiment 1, 124 children (6-8 years) and Experiment 2, 96 children (6-8 years) attended a 45-min workshop with four (Exp. 1) or five (Exp. 2) distinct components. Children were asked to sequence the components using different retrieval strategies (Exp. 1 within-subjects; Exp. 2 between-subjects). Children had difficulty reporting within-event sequential order in response to open-ended prompts but with sufficient visual supports, children were able to provide accurate information about the sequencing of within-event components.

The current study is the first to provide a comprehensive examination of the activation--decision--construction model (Walczyk, Roper, Seemann, & Humphrey, 2003, 2009) in relation to young children's lie-telling and lie maintenance. Young children (3 to 4 years of age, N = 93) completed the temptation-resistance paradigm to elicit a transgression (peeking at a forbidden toy). Children were asked if they peeked at the toy (initial lie) and what they thought the toy was (lie maintenance). A battery of executive functioning tasks was administered (working memory, inhibitory control, planning). With increased inhibitory control on a response inhibition task, children were significantly more likely to lie. With increased inhibitory control on a conflict inhibition task and superior planning on a planning task, children were significantly more likely to maintain their lies. Support for the activation--decision--construction model in relation to young children's deception is discussed.

Regardless of compliance to coercion by an alleged perpetrator, child maltreatment is abuse in any form. However, the extent to which coercion is described as an obligation (mandatory compliance) or permission (optional compliance) is legally relevant. The present investigation examined how attorneys question children about coercion and how children describe coercion in courtroom investigations of alleged child sexual abuse, and whether such language influences jurors' perceptions of children's testimony. Study 1 assessed 64 transcripts of children's testimonies and revealed that both attorneys and children use coercive language. Problematically, terms of permission were used when describing sexual abuse, potentially implying compliance was optional. Study 2 presented 160 adults with transcript excerpts, varied by coercive language (obligation or permission) and maltreatment type (sexual abuse or punishment). Coercive language influenced perceptions of coercion and whether the adult was to blame. Maltreatment type influenced perceptions of severity, credibility, and verdict. Overall, coercive language and maltreatment type influence perceptions of how the event unfolded. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adults have been found to tell lies about their physical and mental health concerns, but no research has assessed how health lies are perceived by others. The present study explored the moral acceptability of older adults' health lies. A sample of 73 younger and 61 older adults assessed how good or bad it is for older adults to tell health lies (about physical health, mental health, medication use) to their doctor, spouse, and adult child. All health lies were rated quite negatively but lies about medication adherence and lies to doctors were rated the most negatively. Compared with younger adults, older adults were more approving of lying to a doctor about physical health but less approving of lying to one's adult child about mental health. Across participants, those with greater depressive symptoms viewed mental health lies less negatively. Given that health lies were rated quite negatively, telling health lies may hold negative social implications for older adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children were at a greater risk of adverse experiences, including maltreatment, during the COVID-19 pandemic given the increased stress experienced by families and reduced visibility outside the home. Child maltreatment investigators witnessed the effects of the pandemic on maltreated children and offer valuable insight regarding children's experiences during the pandemic. The objective of this study was to examine child maltreatment investigators' perspectives of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on maltreated children and their families in Canada. Sixteen child maltreatment investigators were recruited from agencies across Canada that investigate or offer services to children suspected of having been maltreated. Three focus groups were conducted, which followed a semi-structured interview guide developed by the researchers. Thematic analysis resulted in five primary themes regarding maltreatment investigators' perceptions of the pandemic's effects on children, including child maltreatment during the COVID-19 pandemic, increased exposure to violent and traumatic events, stress and challenges faced by families, reduced access to services, and challenges and delays with maltreatment investigations. Child maltreatment investigators perceived that the pandemic profoundly impacted maltreated children and their families. It is critical to ensure children and parents have access to services during future emergencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While previous studies have demonstrated correlations between children and adolescents' evaluations of lies and lie‐telling behaviors, the temporal order of these associations over time and changes across this developmental period remain unexamined. The current study examined longitudinal associations among children and adolescents' (N = 1128; Mage = 11.54, SD = 1.68, 49.80% male, and 83.6% white) evaluations of lies to parents for autonomy and lie‐telling frequency to parents and friends. Autoregressive cross‐lagged analysis revealed longitudinal associations moderated by age. Among children, evaluations of lies predicted greater lie‐telling rates over time. Conversely, among adolescents, lie‐telling frequency predicted lie evaluations over time, and evaluations predicted lying to parents over time. These results demonstrate a novel developmental pattern of the associations between moral evaluations of lies and lie‐telling. Research Highlights: Children and adolescents' evaluations of lie‐telling and lie‐telling frequency were associated longitudinally, but the direction of this association was moderated by age.Among children, more positive lie evaluations predicted greater lie‐telling to parents and friends over time.Among adolescents, more positive lie evaluations predicted lying more often to parents over time; lying more to parents and friends predicted more positive evaluations over time.These findings suggest a novel developmental pattern regarding the temporal order of the association between evaluations of lie‐telling and lie‐telling frequency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the value placed on honesty and the negative consequences of lying, encouraging children's truth-telling is important. The present investigation assessed honesty promotion techniques for encouraging 3–8-year-old Canadian children's (Study 1: n = 301, 54% female; Study 2: n = 229, 50% female from predominantly White middle-class samples) disclosure of a transgression and whether they varied by age. Study 1 examined promising to tell the truth, inducing self-awareness, and the combination of both promising and self-awareness. Study 2 assessed modeling honesty, positive consequences of honesty, and the combination of modeling and consequences. Some individual techniques worked for specific age groups: Self-awareness only increased 3–4-year-olds' and promising only increased 7–8-year-olds' honesty. However, the combination of modeling and consequences increased honesty for all age groups. Findings suggest that different motivational factors may encourage children's honesty across childhood. Public Significance Statement: The present investigation suggests that as age increases, different motivational factors may influence children's honesty. While inducing self-awareness increased 3–4-year-olds' truth-telling about a transgression and promising to tell the truth increased 7–8-year-olds' honesty, the combination of both modeling honesty and highlighting the positive outcomes of honesty increased 3–8-year-olds' honesty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children learn information from a variety of sources and often remember the content but forget the source. Whereas the majority of research has focused on retrieval mechanisms for such difficulties, the present investigation examines whether the way in which sources are "encoded" influences future source monitoring. In Study 1, 86 children aged 3 to 8 years participated in 2 photography sessions on different days. Children were randomly assigned to either the "Difference" condition (they were asked to pay attention to differences between the 2 events), the "Memory control" condition (asked to pay attention with no reference to differences), or the "No-Instruction control" (no special instructions were given). One week later, during a structured interview about the photography session, the 3- to 4-year-olds in the No-Instruction condition were less accurate and responded more often with "do not know" than the 7- to 8-year-olds. However, the older children in the Difference condition made "more" source confusions than the younger children suggesting improved memory for content but not source. In Study 2, the Difference condition was replaced by a "Difference-Tag" condition where details were pointed out along with their source (i.e., tagging source to content). Ninety-four children aged 3 to 8 years participated. Children in the Difference-Tag condition made fewer source-monitoring errors than children in the Control condition. The results of these 2 studies together suggest that binding processes at encoding can lead to better source discrimination of experienced events at retrieval and may underlie the rapid development of source monitoring in this age range.

Prior studies have demonstrated that social-cognitive factors such as children's false-belief understanding and parenting style are related to children's lie-telling behaviors. The present study aimed to investigate how earlier forms of theory-of-mind understanding contribute to children's lie-telling as well as how parenting practices are related to children's antisocial lie-telling behaviors (rather than prosocial lie-telling as examined in previous studies). Seventy-three three-year-olds from Hangzhou, P. R. China were asked not to peek at a toy in the experimenter's absence. The majority of children who peeked, lied about it. Children's lies were positively related to performance on the knowledge-ignorance theory-of-mind task. Additionally, Control parenting, characterized by high levels of monitoring and demanding, unquestioning obedience, was negatively related to three-year-olds' lying. The relation between Control parenting and lie-telling was partially mediated by children's theory-of-mind understanding. These findings suggest that children's early lie-telling behaviors are influenced by social and social-cognitive factors.

The present investigation examined whether school-aged children and adolescents' own deceptive behavior of cheating and lying influenced their honesty judgments of their same-aged peers. Eighty 8- to 17-year-olds who had previously participated in a study examining cheating and lie-telling behaviors were invited to make honesty judgments of their peers' denials of having peeked at the answers to a test. While participants' accuracy rates for making honesty judgments were at chance levels, judgment biases were found based on participants own past cheating and lie-telling behaviors. Specifically, those who cheated and lied were biased towards believing that their peers would behave in the same manner. In contrast, participants who had not cheated were biased towards judging their peers as honest. These findings suggest that by 8 years of age there is a relation between one's own deceptive behaviors and judgments of other's honesty.

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.

The present investigation examined the relation between honesty, benevolence, and trust in children. One hundred and eight 7-, 9-, and 11-year-olds were read four story types in which the character's honesty (honesty or dishonest) was crossed with their intentions (helping or harming). Children rated the story character's honesty, benevolence, and whether they trusted the character. Results indicated that 7- to 11-year-olds considered both honesty and benevolence when making trust judgments, and older children were more likely than younger children to trust helpful lie-tellers. Further, the relation between dishonesty and trust judgments was mediated by children's judgments of benevolence. These findings suggest that at least from 7 years onward, children have a nuanced understanding about the relationship between honesty and trust. (Contains 1 figure and 3 tables.)