Theory-of-Mind Training Causes Honest Young Children to Lie
Open accessAbstract
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.
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Experimental work suggests that theory-of-mind training causes children to lie in a strategic manner.
“Experimental work suggests that theory-of-mind training causes children to lie in a strategic manner (Ding et al., 2015), but it remains unclear whether EF plays a mediating role.”
From Early childhood executive function predicts concurrent and later social and behavioral outcomes: A review and meta-analysis. (2024) · cites this paper as Ding et al., 2015
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- Authors
- Ding, X. P., Wellman, H. M., Wang, Y., Fu, G., & Lee, K.
- Affiliations
- Zhejiang Normal University (CN)
- University of Michigan (US)
- Hangzhou Normal University (CN)
- Corresponding author
- Lee, Kang
- Venue
- Psychological Science
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2015-10-02
- Volume
- 26
- Issue
- 11
- Pages
- 1812-1821
- ISSN
- 0956-7976 (ISSN-L)
- 1467-9280
- PMC
- PMC4636928
- OpenAlex
- W2175496002
- Cited by
- 148
- References
- 59
- Citations by year
- 2026: 26 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 12 · 2023: 14 · 2022: 18 · 2021: 17 · 2020: 11 · 2019: 12 · 2018: 12 · 2017: 10 · 2016: 5 · 2015: 1
- FWCI
- 23.60
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Psychological Science (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (R37HD022149, HD047290, R01HD047290, R01HD046526, HD022149, R01HD022149)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Child and Animal Learning Development
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Deception detection and forensic psychology
- Social Sciences › Education › Early Childhood Education and Development
- Keywords
- theory of mind, lying, deception, social competence, early childhood, honesty, three-year-old children
- MeSH terms
- Child, Child, Preschool, China, Female, Humans, Deception, Male, Social Behavior, Theory of Mind
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