The Effect Of Theory Of Mind Training On Young Children’s Lying

Theory of Mind (ToM) has long been recognized to play an important role in children’s social functioning. A large number of previous studies have confirmed the relationship between ToM and lying, as an important social skill. Some studies have confirmed the causal linkage between the two. But there are some deficiencies in the theoretical explanation and training methods. In study one, we examined 95 children aged 2.5-4, using a theory-of-mind scale. The results revealed a common sequence of ToM understanding, with "belief emotion" coming before "contents false belief". "Knowledge access" and "contents false belief" were key elements that determine the children’s ability of lying.Children who were originally not able to lie in study one were divided into three groups for training research in study two. The results showed that after three classic false belief task training, children’s "knowledge access", "contents false belief" and "real-apparent emotion" ability were significantly improved, which promoted them to begin to lie. The story training containing mental state concepts could not significantly improve children’s ToM understanding. But through training children’s executive function was significantly improved, which probably facilitated children’s ability to lie. As children’s natural maturation, the small sample size and that the control group started training about two months later than two experimental groups, training in the control group that did not contain mental state concepts also improved children’s ToM understanding by promoting children’s "knowledge access", and nearly half of the subjects began to lie.