Children, Teenagers, and Lying

Children and teenagers do lie. The research supports that statement. Why and how they lie, and for what motives is something we trial (defense) lawyers ponder about all the time. In the traditional court-room dichotomy the prosecutor argues children never lie, they have no motive; the defense argues otherwise.
Here is an item that adds to the mix.
Michael Price, “Liar, liar, neurons fire” in Monitor on Psychology Volume 39, No. 1 January 2008.
A colleague at Deception Blog, has this summary.

Children first begin lying verbally around age 3, the time when language development and the ability to control one’s own mental skills combine to form a child’s theory of mind. Also at this age, children have learned their parents’ rules and the consequences of breaking them. …A child’s initial lies tend to be of the punishment-escaping variety. They’re not yet aware of the moral qualms associated with lying… It’s essentially a logic puzzle to them.

… By age 4, children can reliably tell the difference between harmful lies and little white ones, and they stop lying indiscriminately. But, as any lawyer can tell you, the lies don’t drop out altogether. Instead, children develop lying into a social skill.

The article goes on to describe several recent research studies, including a great experiment by psychologist Victoria Talwar from McGill University which demonstrated how lying sophistication increases with age.