What motivates early lies? Deception in 2½- to 5-year-olds

• Published in: Journal of experimental child psychology Vol. 249; p. 106079
• Main Authors: Guo, Cynthia Xinran, Rochat, Philippe
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 01.01.2025
• Subjects: Deception; Lie-telling; Moral development; Morality; Motivation; Social cognition; Morality; Motivation; Moral development; Lie-telling; Deception; Social cognition
• ISSN: 0022-0965; 1096-0457; 1096-0457
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2024.106079

•Children’s earliest lies from 2 ½ years of age are primarily produced for self-protective reasons, such as to avoid punishment for a transgression.•Children start to lie for both self-serving as well as other-serving reasons (e.g., white lies) by age 4.•Verbal and nonverbal deception measures may capture different kinds of deception. What motivates young children to produce early lies? A total of 217 2½- to 5-year-old children (Mage = 44.5 months, SD = 8.45; 54% girls; 61.7% White) from the southeastern United States were tested using a modified third-party transgression paradigm to examine the motivation behind their deception. Children were assigned to one of three conditions—baseline, self-motivated, or other-motivated condition—and their propensity to lie was captured through both verbal and nonverbal measures. Results show that children’s early lies are primarily driven by a self-serving motivation. However, the motivation to lie diversifies by 4 years of age, when children begin to lie for both self-serving and other-serving motivations.