Zhang Xiaoyan, Wang Shenqinyi, Wang Ying, Zhao Qiuming, Shang Siyuan, Sai Liyang
Department of Psychology, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou 311121, China.
Shengzhou Wuai Kindergarten, Shengzhou 312400, China.
Behav Sci (Basel). 2023 Jul 30;13(8):634. doi: 10.3390/bs13080634.
The present study examined children's lies to help others obtain benefits (other-benefiting lying) and its relation to theory of mind (ToM) and empathy among 3-5-year-old preschool children. One hundred nine children were recruited from preschools in China. A modified hide-and-seek paradigm was used to measure children's other-benefiting lying behavior, a ToM scale was used to measure children's ToM abilities, and an empathy scale was used to measure children's empathy abilities. Results showed that children tended to tell more lies to help other to get benefits as age increased, and further analyses showed that this other-benefiting lying was related to children's ToM component of false belief understanding and their cognitive empathy performance. These findings provide evidence that cognitive factors play important roles in children's lying to help others.
本研究调查了3至5岁学龄前儿童为帮助他人获得利益而说谎（即利于他人的说谎行为）的情况，以及这种行为与心理理论（ToM）和同理心之间的关系。研究从中国的幼儿园招募了109名儿童。采用改良的捉迷藏范式来测量儿童利于他人的说谎行为，用心理理论量表测量儿童的心理理论能力，并用同理心量表测量儿童的同理心能力。结果显示，随着年龄增长，儿童倾向于说更多利于他人获得利益的谎言，进一步分析表明，这种利于他人的说谎行为与儿童心理理论中对错误信念的理解成分及其认知同理心表现有关。这些发现证明，认知因素在儿童为帮助他人而说谎的行为中起着重要作用。
