Kids lie to test the limits

It's common for young children to lie, say psychologists who are studying the best ways to get them to tell the truth.

"The fact is, most children tell every sort of small white lies when they're young," said Victoria Talwar, a developmental psychologist at Montreal's McGill University. "They're really trying to find out what they can get away with. They're often telling lies to appear good."

Children lie for the same reasons as adults, such as to escape punishment, make a good impression or to spare someone's feelings.

When children are young, they aren't very good at getting away with their lies. With age, they improve at it and by the later years of school, they're as successful as adults, Talwar said Tuesday.

Talwar's experiments involve kids identifying the sound of a toy with their backs turned, such as acrying baby doll. A hidden camera videotapes the session.

The researcher leaves the room, telling the child not to look at the next toy while she's gone.

The temptation is too much and 80 per cent of children will sneak a peek. When the moment of truth arrives and the researcher asks if the child turned around to look at the next toy, about 70 per cent of the kids lie about it.

Truth and consequences

The experienceis familiar for Marie-Josee Lambert, mother of six-year-old Thomas, one of the children who lied about peeking in the experiment.

When Lambert asks Thomas toclean up his room, he'll go upstairs andplay. He comes downand announces, "OK, I'm done," Lambert said, yet his room remains messy.

Unlike in adults, Talwar's research suggests it's not difficult to get kids to tell the truth.

"Merely asking children to promise to tell the truth has a big impact on children," said Talwar, who tells children participating in the study aboutPinocchio and his liar's long nose. "It alerts them to that importance and they take these promises very seriously, even more so than adults do."

The findings also show scare tactics don't work. When scared, there's a greater incentive for children to lie and conceal it, while talking about the importance of truth-telling and emphasizing positive consequences are more likely to foster truth-telling behaviour, Talwar said.

Aside from enlightening parents, the findings will be used to help legal professionals ensure children tell the truth when they testify in court. Researchers at the lab are also looking at kids' ability to resist temptation.