The Role Of Theory Of Mind In The Developmental Change Of Children’s Lying Behavior

Lying is a ubiquitous human behavior,not only adults but also children can lie.Some researchers have pointed out that the development of children’s lying can be divided into three stages: children between 2 and 3 years old begin to acquire the ability to lie,but lies are not so convincing;children begin to tell convincing lies at the age of 4,but cannot tell lies;and children at the age of 7-8 can not only tell lies,but also tell lies.Previous studies have shown that this law of development and change of children’s lying behavior may be closely related to the development of their theory of mind.However,the existing research results on the relationship between the early components of theory of mind,primary false belief and lying behavior are not consistent,and the effect of secondary false belief on circular lying behavior also needs further research.Accordingly,the purpose of this study is to systematically explore the relationship between the development of theory of mind and the development of children’s lying behavior through two studies.In study 1,374 children aged 2.5-7 years(350 valid)were measured by resistance-temptation experimental paradigm,and the theory of mind of children was measured by the scale of theory of mind and the first-and second-class false belief story tasks.to explore the role of theory of mind in the three stages of children’s lying.The results show that children’s theory of mind ability and lying ability gradually improve with the increase of age.and in different age groups of children’s lying and semantic leakage control are related to different stages of the development of theory of mind: there is a significant positive correlation between 2.5-3-year-old children’s lying behavior and early mental state understanding components,and 4-5-year-old children’s semantic leakage control has a significant positive correlation with second-order false belief.On the other hand,the lying and round lying behaviors of 6-7-year-old children were significantly positively correlated with second-order false belief.The results of study 1 show that children’s early lying behavior is closely related to the development of early mental state understanding,and their semantic leakage control is closely related to the development of second-order false belief.On the basis of the first study,the second study further verified the causal relationship between children’s second-order false belief and the ability to lie.In study 2,40 children aged 4-5 years old who could lie but not lie in the eastern mainland of China were selected and divided into the experimental group and the control group.The experimental group received six secondorder false belief training in the form of storytelling.The subjects in the control group received story training that had nothing to do with theory of mind,and tested theory of mind and lying behavior again after the training.The results of study 2 show that the second-order false belief training can effectively improve the ability of 4-5-year-old children to lie.In general,through two studies,this thesis discusses the relationship between the development of children’s theory of mind and the phased performance of their lying behavior.On the basis of verifying and summarizing the results of previous studies,we should improve the understanding of the relationship between children’s lying behavior and theory of mind,provide more comprehensive theoretical support for the exploration of children’s social development,and lay the foundation for related educational events.