Gordon Heidi M, Lyon Thomas D, Lee Kang
University of Toronto.
Child Dev. 2014 Nov-Dec;85(6):2374-88. doi: 10.1111/cdev.12301. Epub 2014 Oct 7.
This study examined children's secret-keeping for a parent and its relation to trust, theory of mind, secrecy endorsement, and executive functioning (EF). Children (N = 107) between 4 and 12 years of age participated in a procedure wherein parents broke a toy and asked children to promise secrecy. Responses to open-ended and direct questions were examined. Overall, secret-keeping increased with age and promising to keep the secret was related to fewer disclosures in open-ended questioning. Children who kept the secret in direct questioning exhibited greater trust and better parental ratings of EF than children who disclosed the secret. Findings highlight the importance of both social and cognitive factors in secret-keeping development.
本研究考察了儿童为父母保守秘密的情况及其与信任、心理理论、对保密的认同和执行功能(EF)之间的关系。4至12岁的儿童(N = 107)参与了一个过程,在此过程中,父母弄坏了一个玩具,并要求孩子们承诺保密。研究人员考察了孩子们对开放式问题和直接问题的回答。总体而言,保密行为随年龄增长而增加,并且承诺保守秘密与在开放式提问中较少泄露秘密有关。在直接提问中保守秘密的孩子比泄露秘密的孩子表现出更大的信任感,并且父母对其执行功能的评价更高。研究结果突出了社会和认知因素在保密行为发展中的重要性。