Emotion matters in early polite lies: Preschoolers' polite lie-telling in relation to cognitive and emotion-related abilities

Most prior studies on children's polite lie-telling have focused on cognitive correlates but neglected emotional correlates. This study examined 115 preschoolers' polite lie-telling in relation to both cognitive (inhibitory control (IC), false-belief understanding) and emotion-related abilities (emotional theory of mind (ToM), affective empathy). After receiving a disappointing gift, 53 (46.1%) preschoolers lied. Preschoolers' polite lie-telling was positively related to their emotional ToM but not to IC, false-belief understanding, or affective empathy. These findings demonstrate the importance of emotion-related abilities in early polite lie-telling. Unexpectedly, we found that preschoolers' polite lie-telling decreased with age, which might be explained by the development of moral evaluations of polite lie-telling.

Automated summary

The study found that children's polite lie-telling is positively related to emotional theory of mind, but not to other cognitive factors. Additionally, it was unexpectedly discovered that children's polite lie-telling decreases with age, which may be explained by the development of moral evaluations of polite lie-telling.