Predicting Verbal and Nonverbal Deception in 2 ½ - 5-year-olds Open Access

Abstract

The current study investigated 2 ½ to 5 years old children’s levels of mental state understanding, inhibitory control, and sensitivity to rules and norms as potential predictors of an inclination to nonverbally cover up and verbally lie about the transgression of an adult, which could be perceived as implicating the child. With a revised temptation resistant paradigm, results from the study show that children, when spontaneously engaged in covering up for the transgression, relied more on nonverbal deception as a function of age. Among the social cognitive factors, only children’s sensitivity to social norms was found to be predictive of their level of deception. A gender effect was found in terms that boys deceived at a more advanced level compared to girls. These results provide novel evidence regarding the role of gender and normative understanding in the emergence of deception in early development.

Table of Contents

Introduction................................................................................... 1

Deception and Theory of Mind...................................................... 5

Normative Understanding and Deception .....................................7

Inhibitory Control and Children’s Propensity to Deceive .............9

Current Study............................................................................... 10

Methods.......................................................................................11

          Participants........................................................................ 11

          General Procedure and Design .......................................... 11

          Materials............................................................................12

Results........................................................................................19

Discussion................................................................................... 24

Conclusion ..................................................................................34

References................................................................................... 36

Tables.......................................................................................... 45

About this Master's Thesis

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School	Laney Graduate School
Department	Psychology
Subfield / Discipline	Cognition and Development
Degree	M.A.
Submission	Master's Thesis
Language	English
Research Field	Psychology, Developmental Psychology, Cognitive
Keyword	Gender Differences Deception Cognitive Predictors
Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor	Rochat, Philippe, Emory University
Committee Members	Lourenco, Stella, Emory University Goodman, Sherryl, Emory University

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