Children are the eternal example and symbol of the purest truth. Or at least that was believed a while ago because today scientists assert that at the early age of three they are already capable of understanding the emotions of others and… lying! Although there are still some psychologists who assert that children do not lie but rather confuse reality with fantasy.
In one way or another, the truth is that it can seem like a fool’s game to adults to discover children’s lies. But the reality is very diverse, especially when the little ones have already grown a little. This was confirmed by research carried out by Stromwall, who found that most adults are unable to detect when children are lying.
13 children, aged between 11 and 13, were taken and told that they would be interviewed about two events: one that had happened to them in reality and another that they had never experienced. Their task would be to talk about both as if they had really lived them.
They were later interviewed by researchers who did not know which experiences were real and which were not. Their only task was to ask them about those two experiences. Half of the children were given the opportunity to prepare their “speech” about the event that had never happened while the other half had to improvise during the march.
The children were videotaped during the interviews and the interviews were shown to 60 adults. These had to identify which story was true and which was invented. The results? People correctly identified only 51.5% of the stories, although the results were slightly better when faced with the stories created during the march: 55.6% were obtained.
Why weren’t higher results obtained? Simply because children were able to anticipate adults’ lie detection strategies. The 60 adults revealed that one of their strategies for uncovering the lies was to find a lack of details in the stories. For their part, the little ones were based on similar experiences that they had heard told, which is why they were prolix in details. Another strategy to detect lies from adults? Look for symptoms of nervousness. Strategy of the little ones? Stay calm at all times.
Without a doubt, an interesting study that dismantles some myths about relationships between children and adults. Although of course, in the event that we know a child, the whole theory collapses because we are based on knowledge of his daily behavior and not on strategies to detect liars.
Reference:
Stromwall, L.A.; Granhag, P.A. & Landstrom, S. (2007) Children´s prepared and unprepared lies: Can adults see through their strategies? Applied Cognitive Psychology, 21: 457-471.
