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Cited by 148Child and Animal Learning DevelopmentDeception detection and forensic psychologyEarly Childhood Education and Development

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 59 of the 59 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

Theory-of-Mind Training Causes Honest Young Children to Lie

Open access
Ding, Xiao Pan, Wellman, Henry M., Wang, Yu, Fu, Genyue, Lee, Kang·2015·Psychological Science
DOI 10.1177/0956797615604628PMC PMC4636928
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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.

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  1. 10.2307/1131762 · DOI
  2. 10.2307/1131124 · DOI
  3. Wang T., 1982, The Chinese comparative intelligence test guidebook

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Metadata

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
ORCID
Venue
Psychological Science
Publisher
SAGE Publications
Published
2015-10-02
Volume
26
Issue
11
Pages
1812-1821
ISSN
  • 0956-7976 (ISSN-L)
  • 1467-9280
DOI
10.1177/0956797615604628
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
Licence
journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license (tdm)
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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