Other-Benefiting Lying Behavior in Preschool Children and Its Relation to Theory of Mind and Empathy

Abstract

The present study examined children’s lies to help others obtain benefits (other-benefiting lying) and its relation to theory of mind (ToM) and empathy among 3–5-year-old preschool children. One hundred nine children were recruited from preschools in China. A modified hide-and-seek paradigm was used to measure children’s other-benefiting lying behavior, a ToM scale was used to measure children’s ToM abilities, and an empathy scale was used to measure children’s empathy abilities. Results showed that children tended to tell more lies to help other to get benefits as age increased, and further analyses showed that this other-benefiting lying was related to children’s ToM component of false belief understanding and their cognitive empathy performance. These findings provide evidence that cognitive factors play important roles in children’s lying to help others.