Are little kids big liars? A study answers the question.

Are the little ones great myths? From an early age, children tend to confabulate, arousing indignation, but also concern in their parents. And if the little treasure was a mythomaniac in the making?

If it’s frustrating enough to hear your child tell us that no, he didn’t just spill his bowl of pasta with tomato sauce on the floor, when we just watched the live scene, still there’s no need to panic. A study published by Polish researchers reveals that children’s lies are neither voluntary nor abnormal.

Identify the mechanisms of lying in the little ones

Polish researchers conducted a study with 250 two-and-a-half-year-olds to identify the mechanisms of lying in young children. The scientists placed a box in front of each of these children, instructing them: they must neither open nor touch it. The adult was then briefly absent and the child was left alone in front of the playpen.

When the adult returned, he had to answer yes or no when asked if he had followed instructions. If two-thirds of the children follow the rule, half still say they opened or touched the box. Among the disobedient, 70% reported spontaneously.

A third of the children then lied, whether or not they followed the initial instructions.

The lie of children: involuntary and spontaneous

The researchers questioned the reasons that pushed the little ones to lie and discovered that the control of inhibition was already very high in the children who respected the rule and told the truth. For the others, the scientists found that they responded spontaneously without necessarily being aware of the veracity of their words.

Furthermore, we could only answer yes or no to the question posed: did you open the box? This type of request leads to reactions based on what children think is expected of them and not on what actually happened. These lies, somehow induced by adult formulation, are unintentional and do not reflect the intention of “ fool his world “, are also called” pseudo lies “.

This study reassures parents: your little one’s lies don’t (yet) reveal a weakness for manipulation and psychopathy, but a way of learning about the world and communicating totally different from that of the parents.

Before the age of 6 or 7, the lies of the little ones would have nothing in common with those of adults. It is only when he acquires a more sustained sense of morality that the child is then able to measure the consequences of his words and to differentiate between the imaginary world and reality.

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