Two experiments investigated response tendencies of preschoolers toward yes-no questions about actions. Two hundred 2- to 5-year-old children were asked questions concerning actions commonly associated with particular objects (e.g., drinking from a cup) and actions not commonly associated with particular objects (e.g., kicking a toothbrush). The…

Although there has been extensive research on children's moral knowledge about lying and truth-telling and their actual lie- or truth-telling behaviors, research to examine the relation between these two is extremely rare. This study examined one hundred and twenty 7-, 9-, and 11-year-olds' moral understanding of lies and their actual lying…

The way in which children evaluate people's claims about their own psychological characteristics was examined. Among children ages 6-11 from the United States and China (total N = 243), there was an age-related increase in skepticism about self-report concerning the highly value-laden characteristics "honest", "smart", and…

Five experiments examined whether young children believe a lie tellers' implausible statement about a misdeed when the statement violates their developing knowledge of the reality- fantasy distinction. Findings suggested that 5- and 6-year-olds tended to report that the individual making the implausible statement actually committed the misdeed; 3-…

Compared Chinese and Canadian 7-, 9-, and 11-year-olds' moral evaluations of lie- and truth-telling in stories involving pro- and antisocial behavior. Found that Chinese children rated truth-telling less positively and lie-telling more positively in prosocial settings than Canadians. Both rated truth-telling positively and lie-telling negatively…