Department of Educational & Counselling Psychology, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec H3A 1Y2, Canada.
Moray House School of Education and Sport, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH8 8AQ, UK.
J Exp Child Psychol. 2022 Jul;219:105385. doi: 10.1016/j.jecp.2022.105385. Epub 2022 Feb 22.
Few studies have examined the lie-telling behavior of children who have externalizing problems using experimental procedures. In the current study, children's lie-telling for personal gain (N = 110 boys aged 6-11 years) was examined using an experimental paradigm in relation to their theory-of-mind abilities and inhibitory control as well as their moral evaluations of truths and lies. Children with externalizing behavior problems (n = 53) were significantly more likely to lie and to be less skilled at lying than a typical comparison group (n = 57). Children who had lower theory-of-mind scores were significantly more likely to tell a lie for personal gain compared with those who had higher theory-of-mind scores. Children with externalizing problems who told personal gain lies were also more likely to rate tattle truths more positively than other children. For a subsample of children (n = 55), parent-reported diaries of the frequency of children's lies over 2 weeks revealed a higher frequency of lies by children with externalizing problems compared with the typical comparison group. Children whose parents reported a high frequency of lies for their children were also more likely to lie in the experimental personal gain lie paradigm. Results suggest that children with externalizing behavior may have a different pattern of lie-telling than has been previously reported for normative lie development.
很少有研究使用实验程序来检验有外化问题的儿童的说谎行为。在当前的研究中，使用实验范式考察了儿童为个人利益而说谎的行为（N=110 名 6-11 岁男孩），并将其与他们的心理理论能力和抑制控制以及对真话和谎言的道德评价联系起来。与典型对照组（n=57）相比，有外化行为问题的儿童（n=53）说谎的可能性显著更高，说谎技巧也显著更低。与心理理论得分较高的儿童相比，心理理论得分较低的儿童更有可能为了个人利益而撒谎。与其他儿童相比，有外化问题且说个人利益谎言的儿童也更有可能对告密真相给予更高的评价。对于儿童的子样本（n=55），父母在两周内报告的儿童说谎频率的日记显示，有外化问题的儿童说谎的频率高于典型对照组。父母报告其子女说谎频率高的儿童也更有可能在实验个人利益说谎范式中说谎。结果表明，有外化行为的儿童的说谎模式可能与之前报道的正常说谎发展不同。
