Scientists Discover What Age Children Start Becoming ‘Cunning Little Liars’

UNITED STATES, March 25 — Scientists may have just identified the age at which children begin to understand and practice deception for the first time—and it is a lot younger than you might think. A study conducted by researchers from the University of Bristol in the U. K.

and published in the journal Cognitive Development found thar around a quarter of children start to understand deception by the age of just 10 months. That proportion rises to around half by the age of 17 months and by the age of 3, children become more proficient, creative and frequent fabricators, according to the findings. Elena Hoicka, a professor of education at the University of Bristol, and the lead author on the study , knows from personal experience that kids can be deceptive .

"As a mother of three children myself, I can certainly vouch for how artful and wily they can be. Hiding under the table or in the bathroom to eat sweets or chocolate is their common ploy," Hoicka said. However, in working on the study, she learned more about "how children’s understanding and usage of deception evolves from a surprisingly young age and builds in their first years so they become quite adept and cunning ‘little liars’.

" "Previous research has often focused on deception as something very sophisticated, requiring strong language skills and an advanced understanding of others’ minds," Hoicka said. "By considering how deception occurs in animals, including chimpanzees, capuchin monkeys, antelopes, and birds, and applying this to young children, we were able to document the first much earlier forms of deception in young children—and it would seem to start very early on indeed. " The Experiment As part of the research, parents of more than 750 children aged between 0 and 47 months recruited from the U.

, Australia and Canada were asked a range of questions about their child’s deception development . The responses made for fascinating reading. Some reported their child first recognized the concept as early as aged 8 months.

Deception activity was also found to be frequent. Once their child got started, the study showed that half of children reported as deceivers had done something sneaky in the last day. By analyzing responses the researchers, who came from the Universities of Bristol, Oxford, Sheffield, Warwick, in the U.

K. , and Waterloo in Canada, were able to identify 16 different types of deception. "From two years, deception tends to be action-based, or require only basic spoken responses, liked pretending not to hear their parent say ‘time to tidy up’, hiding things from others, or denial—such as eating chocolate but shaking head to say ‘no’ when asked if they ate chocolate," Hoicka said.

"It could also extend to doing forbidden activities in secret, for example, looking in a bag they were told not to look in when no one is apparently watching, or making excuses, such as claiming to need the toilet when asked to tidy up. " The Conclusion The study concluded that, by the age of 3, children start to understand and engage in more types of deception, which often involves a deeper understanding of language and how other people’s minds work. Hoicka said: "This could mean exaggerating, such as saying ‘I ate all my peas’ when they only ate a quarter, understatement or indeed complete fabrication such as telling a lie like ‘a ghost ate the chocolate’, as well as pretending not to know, see, or understand.

"They also start to withhold information, for instance accurately telling their parents their sibling hit them, while leaving out the fact that they hit their sibling first. Three-year-olds also start to use distraction, like telling someone to ‘Look over there! ’ when they want to do something they’re not supposed to.

" It is hoped that the findings will help to provide a greater understanding of the origins of deception and how children might later learn to deceive in more-advanced ways as they get older. Hoicka said she hopes the findings will help both parents and educators and show that "deception is entirely normal in toddler development. " "They can also look at our findings to know which types of deception to expect by age, so they can better understand and communicate with their children in order to stay one step ahead of their deceit," she said.

Jennifer Saul, professor of philosophy at the University of Waterloo, and co-author on the study, added: "Philosophers have long reflected on the morality of human deception, but always focused on adults deceiving one another. This study shows just how much complexity gets overlooked by that focus. "