title: Theory-of-Mind Training Causes Honest Young Children to Lie.
abstract: Theory of mind (ToM) has long been recognized to play a major role in children's social functioning. However, no direct evidence confirms the causal linkage between the two. In the current study, we addressed this significant gap by examining whether ToM causes the emergence of lying, an important social skill. We showed that after participating in ToM training to learn about mental-state concepts, 3-year-olds who originally had been unable to lie began to deceive consistently. This training effect lasted for more than a month. In contrast, 3-year-olds who participated in control training to learn about physical concepts were significantly less inclined to lie than the ToM-trained children. These findings provide the first experimental evidence supporting the causal role of ToM in the development of social competence in early childhood.
authors.affiliation: Hangzhou College of Preschool Education, Zhejiang Normal University Dr. Eric Jackman Institute of Child Study, University of Toronto.
authors.forename: Xiao Pan
authors.initials: XP
authors.lastname: Ding
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Michigan.
authors.forename: Henry M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Wellman
authors.affiliation: Hangzhou College of Preschool Education, Zhejiang Normal University.
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Hangzhou Normal University.
authors.forename: Genyue
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Fu
authors.affiliation: Hangzhou College of Preschool Education, Zhejiang Normal University Dr. Eric Jackman Institute of Child Study, University of Toronto kang.lee@utoronto.ca.
authors.forename: Kang
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002681:China; D008192:Deception; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012919:Social Behavior; D056345:Theory of Mind
keywords: deception; lying; social behavior; theory of mind; training