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Tay C, Ng R, Ye NN, Ding XP. Detecting lies through others' eyes: Children use perceptual access cues to evaluate listeners' beliefs about informants' deception. J Exp Child Psychol 2024; 241:105863. [PMID: 38306738 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2024.105863] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/28/2023] [Revised: 01/01/2024] [Accepted: 01/07/2024] [Indexed: 02/04/2024]
Abstract
Children are often third-party observers of conversations between informants and receivers. Although 5- and 6-year-olds can identify and reject informants' false testimony, it remains unclear whether they expect others to do the same. Accurately assessing others' impressions of informants and their testimony in a conversational setting is essential for children's navigation of the social world. Using a novel second-order lie detection task, the current study examined whether 4- to 7-year-olds (N = 74; Mage = 69 months) take receivers' epistemic states into account when predicting whether a receiver would think an informant is truthful or deceptive. We pitted children's firsthand observations of reality against informants' false testimony while manipulating receivers' perceptual access to a sticker-hiding event. Results showed that when the receiver had perceptual access and was knowledgeable, children predicted that the receiver would think the informant is lying. Critically, when the receiver lacked perceptual access and was ignorant, children were significantly more likely to predict that the receiver would think the informant is telling the truth. Second-order theory of mind and executive function strengthened this effect. Findings are interpreted using a dual-process framework and provide new insights into children's understanding of others' selective trust and susceptibility to deception.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cleo Tay
- Department of Psychology, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117570, Singapore.
| | - Ray Ng
- Department of Psychology, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117570, Singapore.
| | - Nina Ni Ye
- Wheelock College of Education and Human Development, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215, USA.
| | - Xiao Pan Ding
- Department of Psychology, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117570, Singapore.
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2
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Wu T, Weiland C, McCormick M, Hsueh J, Snow C, Sachs J. One Score to Rule Them All? Comparing the Predictive and Concurrent Validity of 30 Hearts and Flowers Scoring Approaches. Assessment 2024:10731911241229566. [PMID: 38361250 DOI: 10.1177/10731911241229566] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/17/2024]
Abstract
The Hearts and Flowers (H&F) task is a computerized executive functioning (EF) assessment that has been used to measure EF from early childhood to adulthood. It provides data on accuracy and reaction time (RT) across three different task blocks (hearts, flowers, and mixed). However, there is a lack of consensus in the field on how to score the task that makes it difficult to interpret findings across studies. The current study, which includes a demographically diverse population of kindergarteners from Boston Public Schools (N = 946), compares the predictive and concurrent validity of 30 ways of scoring H&F, each with a different combination of accuracy, RT, and task block(s). Our exploratory results provide evidence supporting the use of a two-vector average score based on Zelazo et al.'s approach of adding accuracy and RT scores together only after individuals pass a certain accuracy threshold. Findings have implications for scoring future tablet-based developmental assessments.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | - Catherine Snow
- Harvard Graduate School of Education, Cambridge, MA, USA
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3
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Prodan N, Ding XP, Visu-Petra L. Truthful yet misleading: Elementary second-order deception in school-age children and its sociocognitive correlates. J Exp Child Psychol 2024; 237:105759. [PMID: 37597452 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2023.105759] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/16/2023] [Revised: 06/29/2023] [Accepted: 07/24/2023] [Indexed: 08/21/2023]
Abstract
In highly competitive contexts, deceptive intentions might be transparent, so conveying only false information to the opponent can become a predictable strategy. In such situations, alternating between truths and lies (second-order lying behavior) represents a less foreseeable option. The current study investigated the development of 8- to 10-year-old children's elementary second-order deception in relation to their attribution of ignorance (first- and second-order ignorance) and executive functions (inhibitory control, shifting ability, and verbal working memory). An adapted version of the hide-and-seek paradigm was used to assess children's second-order lie-telling, in which children were asked to hide a coin in either of their hands. Unlike the standard paradigm, the opponent did not consistently look for the coin in the location indicated by the children, so children needed to switch between telling simple lies and truths (elementary second-order lies about the coin location) to successfully deceive the recipient. The results showed that older children were less likely to tell elementary second-order lies. However, across the sample, when children decided to lie, this ability was positively related to their second-order ignorance attribution and their verbal working memory. Moreover, we obtained preliminary evidence for the presence of a habituation effect in second-order lying, with children being more accurate and having less variability in their truthful-to-deceive responses (this being the more frequently elicited response) than when telling lies to deceive. Our findings could have implications for understanding the mechanisms underlying children's ability to alternate between truths and lies to deceive.
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Affiliation(s)
- Narcisa Prodan
- Department of Psychology, Babes-Bolyai University, 400015 Cluj-Napoca, Cluj, Romania
| | - Xiao Pan Ding
- Department of Psychology, National University of Singapore, 117570 Singapore, Singapore
| | - Laura Visu-Petra
- Department of Psychology, Babes-Bolyai University, 400015 Cluj-Napoca, Cluj, Romania; Department of Social and Human Research, Romanian Academy, 400015 Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
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Prodan N, Ding XP, Szekely-Copîndean RD, Tănăsescu A, Visu-Petra L. Socio-cognitive correlates of primary school children's deceptive behavior toward peers in competitive settings. Acta Psychol (Amst) 2023; 240:104019. [PMID: 37734243 DOI: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2023.104019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/21/2023] [Revised: 08/26/2023] [Accepted: 08/30/2023] [Indexed: 09/23/2023] Open
Abstract
Competing for limited resources with peers is common among children from an early age, illustrating their propensity to use deceptive strategies to win. We focused on how primary school-age (6-8 years old) children's strategic deception toward peers is associated with their socio-cognitive development (theory of mind and executive functions). In a novel computerized competitive hide-and-seek game, we manipulated the peer opponents' familiarity (familiar vs. unfamiliar) and actions (following vs. not following children's indications), as well as the stimuli likability (liked vs. disliked cards). Our findings demonstrated that children deceived the familiar opponent less than the unfamiliar one, indicating their determination to preserve positive peer interactions. We showed that theory of mind and executive functions significantly predicted children's willingness to deceive. Notably, second-order false belief understanding and visuospatial working memory positively predicted children's use of truths to deceive, whereas inhibitory control and cognitive flexibility efficacy scores were negatively related to their deceptive performance when using the same strategy. Implications for children's competitive behavior toward peers involving lie-telling are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Narcisa Prodan
- Department of Psychology, Babes-Bolyai University, 400015 Cluj-Napoca, Cluj, Romania.
| | - Xiao Pan Ding
- Department of Psychology, National University of Singapore, 117570 Singapore, Singapore.
| | - Raluca Diana Szekely-Copîndean
- Department of Psychology, Babes-Bolyai University, 400015 Cluj-Napoca, Cluj, Romania; Department of Social and Human Research, Romanian Academy, 400015 Cluj-Napoca, Cluj, Romania.
| | | | - Laura Visu-Petra
- Department of Psychology, Babes-Bolyai University, 400015 Cluj-Napoca, Cluj, Romania; Department of Social and Human Research, Romanian Academy, 400015 Cluj-Napoca, Cluj, Romania.
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Sai L, Shang S, Tay C, Liu X, Sheng T, Fu G, Ding XP, Lee K. Theory of mind, executive function, and lying in children: a meta-analysis. Dev Sci 2021; 24:e13096. [PMID: 33544950 DOI: 10.1111/desc.13096] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/29/2020] [Revised: 01/28/2021] [Accepted: 01/29/2021] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
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.
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Affiliation(s)
- Liyang Sai
- Institute of Psychological Sciences, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Siyuan Shang
- Institute of Psychological Sciences, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Cleo Tay
- Department of Psychology, National University of Singapore, Singapore
| | - Xingchen Liu
- Institute of Psychological Sciences, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Tingwen Sheng
- Institute of Psychological Sciences, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Genyue Fu
- Institute of Psychological Sciences, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Xiao Pan Ding
- Department of Psychology, National University of Singapore, Singapore
| | - Kang Lee
- Department of Psychology, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua, China.,Dr. Eric Jackman Institute of Child Study, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
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Sai L, Zhao C, Heyman GD, Compton BJ, Fu G. Young children's lying and early mental state understanding. INFANT AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT 2020. [DOI: 10.1002/icd.2197] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Liyang Sai
- Institutes of Psychological Sciences Hangzhou Normal University Hangzhou China
- Center for Cognition and Brain Disorders the Affiliated Hospital of Hangzhou Normal University Hangzhou Zhejiang Province P.R. China
| | - Changzhi Zhao
- Institutes of Psychological Sciences Hangzhou Normal University Hangzhou China
| | - Gail D. Heyman
- Department of Psychology University of California San Diego La Jolla California USA
| | - Brian J. Compton
- Department of Psychology University of California San Diego La Jolla California USA
| | - Genyue Fu
- Institutes of Psychological Sciences Hangzhou Normal University Hangzhou China
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Zheltyakova M, Kireev M, Korotkov A, Medvedev S. Neural mechanisms of deception in a social context: an fMRI replication study. Sci Rep 2020; 10:10713. [PMID: 32612101 PMCID: PMC7329834 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-67721-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/24/2020] [Accepted: 06/12/2020] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Deception is a form of manipulation aimed at misleading another person by conveying false or truthful messages. Manipulative truthful statements could be considered as sophisticated deception and elicit an increased cognitive load. However, only one fMRI study reported its neural correlates. To provide independent evidence for sophisticated deception, we carried out an fMRI study replicating the experimental paradigm and Bayesian statistical approach utilized in that study. During the experiment, participants played a game against an opponent by sending deliberate deceptive or honest messages. Compared to truth-telling, deceptive intentions, regardless of how they were fulfilled, were associated with increased BOLD signals in the bilateral temporoparietal junction (TPJ), left precuneus, and right superior temporal sulcus (STS). The right TPJ participates in the attribution of mental states, acting in a social context, and moral behaviour. Moreover, the other revealed brain areas have been considered nodes in the theory of mind brain neural system. Therefore, the obtained results reflect an increased demand for socio‑cognitive processes associated with deceptive intentions. We replicated the original study showing the involvement of the right TPJ and expanded upon it by revealing the involvement of the left TPJ, left precuneus and right STS in actions with deceptive intentions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maya Zheltyakova
- N.P. Bechtereva Institute of the Human Brain, Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, Russia
| | - Maxim Kireev
- N.P. Bechtereva Institute of the Human Brain, Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, Russia.
| | - Alexander Korotkov
- N.P. Bechtereva Institute of the Human Brain, Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, Russia
| | - Svyatoslav Medvedev
- N.P. Bechtereva Institute of the Human Brain, Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, Russia
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Hu C, Huang J, Wang Q, Weare E, Fu G. Truthful but Misleading: Advanced Linguistic Strategies for Lying Among Children. Front Psychol 2020; 11:676. [PMID: 32425844 PMCID: PMC7212342 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00676] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/03/2019] [Accepted: 03/19/2020] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
We explored whether children could apply linguistic strategies for lying, i.e., manipulating linguistic content of speech to mislead others. We announced a knowledge-test entailing prizes in the classrooms of a primary school and a middle school. Altogether 79 Chinese children (6–18 years) voluntarily participated in the test: listening to a series of animal sounds before guessing the names of the animals. Meanwhile, behind the participants, a video was playing images that ostensibly corresponded to the sounds being played. In fact, this was not necessarily the case, i.e., some items cannot be solved because the sounds played are not from any animal but machine-synthesized. Participants were instructed not to look back at the video. However, 51 children peeked at the video for the unsolvable items, although the peeking behavior decreased with age. Moreover, when explaining how they correctly guessed the unsolvable items, children as young as 6 years old were able to apply a linguistic strategy (i.e., “capability attribution”) for lying. Besides “capability attribution,” Children also applied “fortune attribution” and “topic shift” for lying. Finally, “fortune attribution” and “topic shift” increased with age. Therefore, educators need to be aware that children are able to apply verbal strategies for lying that could involve truthful statements (i.e., “topic shift”) or statements that are difficult to be proved as untruthful (i.e., “fortune attribution”).
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Affiliation(s)
- Chao Hu
- Institute of Psychological Sciences, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China.,Art Therapy Psychological Research Centre, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China.,Zhejiang Key Laboratory for Research in Assessment of Cognitive Impairments, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Jinhao Huang
- Institute of Psychological Sciences, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China.,Art Therapy Psychological Research Centre, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China.,Zhejiang Key Laboratory for Research in Assessment of Cognitive Impairments, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Qiandong Wang
- Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China
| | - Ethan Weare
- Department of History, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Genyue Fu
- Institute of Psychological Sciences, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China.,Zhejiang Key Laboratory for Research in Assessment of Cognitive Impairments, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China
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Moldovan M, Seucan DT, Visu-Petra L. Pre-and post-theory of mind and deception: Commentary on Walczyk and Fargerson (2019). NEW IDEAS IN PSYCHOLOGY 2020. [DOI: 10.1016/j.newideapsych.2019.100754] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
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10
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Leng H, Wang Y, Li Q, Yang L, Sun Y. Sophisticated Deception in Junior Middle School Students: An ERP Study. Front Psychol 2019; 9:2675. [PMID: 30687155 PMCID: PMC6336891 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02675] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/25/2018] [Accepted: 12/13/2018] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Sophisticated deception refers to the deception of others based on inferences of their mental states (e.g., answering honestly when inferring that the other will not believe their answer). Studying the brain mechanism of sophisticated deception in junior middle school students can provide physiological evidence for deception detection and deceptive ability measurement. Sixteen junior middle school students were asked to engage in different trial types (i.e., instructed truth/lie and chosen truth/lie), during which we recorded their response times (RT) along with electroencephalographic data to calculate event-related potentials (ERPs). We observed significant differences in amplitude [N2, P3, N450, and medial frontal negativity (MFN)] between chosen reactions (sophisticated deception and simple deception) and instructed reactions (instructed truth and instructed lie) in both the stimulus presentation and feedback stages. In the former, the task scores of participants in the chosen condition were significantly and positively correlated with the N2 amplitude over the central brain area during sophisticated deception. In the latter, the task scores of participants in the chosen condition were negatively correlated with the MFN amplitude over the left frontal and left frontocentral regions. Overall, deception intention, rather than simply making counterfactual statements, appears to underlie the increased demand for cognitive control in deceivers. This can be attributed to deceivers' need to strongly consider their opponent's mental state-the better the deceivers' deceptive ability, the more they will make conjectures about the mental state of their opponent with sophisticated deception and monitor conflict; the less conflict they experience while answering honestly with the intention to deceive, the more conflict may arise when the results of their deception are inconsistent with these conjectures.
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Affiliation(s)
- Haizhou Leng
- School of Psychology, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian, China
| | - Yanrong Wang
- School of Psychology, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian, China
| | - Qian Li
- Xingtai Special Education School, Xingtai, China
| | - Lizhu Yang
- School of Psychology, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian, China
| | - Yan Sun
- School of Psychology, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian, China
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