Moral evaluations of children's truths and lies in a prosocial context: The role of reputation.

The current investigation examined the influence of a child's reputation on 7- to 12-year-olds' (Study 1; N = 146) and parents' (Study 2; N = 198) moral evaluations of the child's blunt truths (i.e., truths told despite possible hurt feelings) and prosocial lies (i.e., lies told to protect another's feelings). In Study 1, children were read a series of vignettes in which a child, described as being smart, kind, or clean (with clean serving as the irrelevant control reputation), told either the blunt truth or a prosocial lie that varied in content (opinions or facts). In Study 2, parents evaluated the same vignettes and reputations as in Study 1 with the addition of a troublemaker reputation. The reputation of the child protagonist significantly influenced both children's and parents' moral evaluations. Children rated the kind child's lies more positively, and parents rated the smart child's truths and lies less positively, than those of the clean (control) child when told about opinions. No differences were noted in the facts content condition. Findings suggest that a child's perceived reputation may influence both children's and adults' moral interpretations of the child's honesty behaviors.

Longitudinal associations between impulsivity and lie-telling in childhood and adolescence.

Lie-telling and impulsivity levels peak during late childhood to early adolescence and have been suggested to be related. Heightened impulsivity may lead adolescents to lie in favor of short-term benefits without consideration for the potential consequences of deception. The present study assessed longitudinal relations between self-reported impulsivity and lie-telling frequency. Participants from a large-scale longitudinal study (N = 1148; Mage  = 11.55, SD = 1.69, 9-15 years at Time 1) reported on their impulsivity (Barratt Impulsiveness Scale) and their frequency of lie-telling to parents, to teachers, to friends, and about cheating across two time points 1 year apart. Cross-lagged path analysis revealed greater impulsivity was associated with more frequent lie-telling to parents, friends, and teachers, and about cheating over time. Our findings demonstrate the role of impulsivity in the development of lie-telling behaviors. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS: Impulsivity predicts lying across time in multiple contexts (to parents, friends, teachers, and about cheating). Previous research has demonstrated the role of top-down influences on lie-telling, but the current study suggests that bottom-up processes are also influential.