Influence of social factors on the relation between lie-telling and children's cognitive abilities.
Lie-telling may be part of a normative developmental process for children. However, little is known about the complex interaction of social and cognitive factors related to this developmental behavior. The current study examined parenting style, maternal exposure to stressors, and children's cognitive abilities in relation to children's antisocial lie-telling behavior in an experimental setting. Children (3-6years, N=157) participated in a modified temptation resistance paradigm to elicit spontaneous lies. Results indicate that high authoritative parenting and high inhibitory control interact to predict a lower propensity to lie, but those who did lie had better semantic leakage control. This suggests that although children's lie-telling may be normative during early development, the relation to children's cognitive abilities can be moderated by responsive parenting behaviors that discourage lying.
Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec H3A 1Y2, Canada. Electronic address: victoria.talwar@mcgill.ca.
Victoria
V
Talwar
Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec H3A 1Y2, Canada.
Jennifer
J
Lavoie
Faculty of Medicine, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec H4A 3J1, Canada.
Carlos
C
Gomez-Garibello
Department of Psychology, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York, New York, NY 10019, USA.
Angela M
AM
Crossman
D001318:Authoritarianism; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D008192:Deception; D056344:Executive Function; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007266:Inhibition, Psychological; D007360:Intelligence; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D016487:Parenting / Q000523:psychology*; D002666:Psychology, Child; D012931:Social Environment; D012951:Socialization; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology; D057190:Stroop Test; D014888:Wechsler Scales
Cognitive ability; Deception; Executive functioning; Lie-telling; Parenting; Social environments