Theory of mind, executive function, and lying in children: a meta‐analysis

Abstract

Scientific research on how children learn to tell lies has existed for more than a century. Earlier studies mainly focused on moral, social, and situational factors contributing to the development of lying. Researchers have only begun to explore the cognitive correlations of children's lying in the last two decades. Cognitive theories suggest that theory of mind (ToM) and executive function (EF) should be closely related to the development of lying since lying is, in essence, ToM and EF in action. Yet, findings from empirical studies are mixed. To address this issue, the current meta‐analysis reviewed all prior literature that examined the relations between children's lying and ToM and/or between children's lying and EF. In total, 47 papers consisting of 5099 participants between 2 and 19 years of age were included, which yielded 74 effect sizes for ToM and 94 effect sizes for EF. Statistically significant but relatively small effects were found between children's lying and ToM (r = .17) and between lying and EF (r = .13). Furthermore, EF’s correlation with children's initial lies was significantly smaller than its correlation with children's ability to maintain lies. This comprehensive meta‐analysis provides a clear picture of the associations between children's ToM/EF and their lying behavior and confirms that ToM and EF indeed play a positive role in children's lying and its development.

The developmental origins of a default moral response: A shift from honesty to dishonesty

“…There is reason to believe that young children might have the opposite default response under these circumstances (Lee, 2013). Prior theoretical work suggests that executive function should be closely related to the development of lying because lying can be conceptualized as executive function in action (Sai et al, 2021). Young children struggle with some of the cognitive demands associated with the ability to tell a lie, such as the need to keep track of what is true and what is false (Lee, 2013), and young children's level of executive functioning predicts their tendency to lie to promote their own interest (Ding et al, 2018; Fu et al, 2018; Hala & Russell, 2001).…”

A Longitudinal Study of the Relations Between Theory of Mind, Executive Function, and Lying in Children

“…Several theories of deception such as interpersonal deception theory (Buller and Burgoon, 1996) and the activation-decisionconstruction model (ADCM, Walczyk et al, 2003) have proposed that inhibitory control and working memory are particularly related to lying because to tell a lie, children need to suppress the prepotent tendency to tell the truth (Evans and Lee, 2013), while also holding the truth and creating its alternatives in their minds (Alloway et al, 2015). This argument has been supported by findings showing positive relations between children's lying and their inhibitory control, and working memory ability (Carlson et al, 1998;Talwar and Lee, 2008;Williams et al, 2017, for a meta-analysis, see Sai et al, 2021).…”

An experimental investigation of association between children’s lying and behavior problems

“…This developmental increase in lying is not a significant concern, as lying at this age is considered a milestone of normal cognitive development ( Talwar and Lee, 2008 ; Evans and Lee, 2011 ; Ding et al, 2015 ). Indeed, considerable evidence has revealed that children’s lying correlates with crucial cognitive skills such as theory of mind and executive functioning (for a meta-analysis, see Sai et al, 2021 ).…”