Idea Transcript
View ScienceDirect over a secure connection: switch to HTTPS
Journals
Books
Register
Sign in
Outline
Purchase PDFPurchase
Search ScienceDirect
Export
Advanced
Outline Highlights Abstract Keywords Introduction Method Results Discussion Conclusion Acknowledgments Appendix A. Supplementary material References
Show full outline
Figures (4)
Tables (4) Table 1 Table 2 Table 3 Table 4
Extras (1) Supplementary data 1
Journal of Experimental Child Psychology Volume 162, October 2017, Pages 225-241
The honest truth about deception: Demographic, cognitive, and neural correlates of child repeated deceptive behavior Sandra Thijssen a, b, c , d, Andrea Wildeboer b, c , d, Marinus H. van IJzendoorn a, d, e, Ryan L. Muetzel b, c , Sandra J.E. Langeslag b, c , f, Vincent W.V. Jaddoe b, g, h, Frank C. Verhulst b, c , Henning Tiemeier c , g, i, Marian J. Bakermans-Kranenburg d, e, Tonya White c , j Show more https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2017.05.009
Get rights and content
Highlights •
Deception in children depends on the probability of getting caught.
•
High-risk deceivers have less developed cognitive abilities than other children.
•
High-risk deceivers show less ACC activity than honest children and low-risk deceivers.
•
Deception in a high versus low-risk situation relates to increased ACC activity.
Abstract This study examined situational, psychological, and neurobiological factors associated with deceptive behavior in 8-year-old children. By assessing deception in low- and high-risk conditions, we differentiated between children displaying some dishonesty and children who deceived repeatedly, and we assessed the correlates of deception in 163 children. A large majority of the children were deceptive in the low-risk condition (n = 121, 74.2%), but most children refrained from deception when at risk for getting caught (69 of 121). Using an aggregate score, children who continued deceiving could be discriminated from other children based on gender, lower age, lower IQ, less effortful control, and lower educated mothers. Compared with honest children and high-risk deceivers, low-risk deceivers differed on an aggregate score, suggesting that they were more likely to be girls and to come from higher income families. Compared with the other children, high-risk deceivers showed decreased activation in the bilateral anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and right frontal pole during the low-risk condition, suggesting decreased engagement in conflict monitoring and error detection during opportunities for deception. In high-risk deceivers, high-risk deception was associated with increased bilateral ACC and right paracingulate gyrus activation compared with low-risk deception. High-risk deceivers may require a higher level of risk to engage the ACC to the same degree as low-risk deceivers or honest children. Our results suggest that deceptive behavior in children seems to be largely dependent on the estimated likelihood of getting caught. High-risk deceivers form a distinct group with different cognitive and neurobiological characteristics compared with honest children and low-risk deceivers.
Previous article
Keywords Deception; Executive functioning; Anterior cingulate cortex; Moral behavior; Child behavior
Choose an option to locate/access this article: Check if you have access through your login credentials or your institution. Loading [Contrib]/a11y/accessibility-menu.js
Next article
Check Access or
Purchase
or Check for this article elsewhere
Recommended articles
Citing articles (0)
© 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Recommended articles The cognitive bases of the development of past and future episodic cognition in preschoolers Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, Volume 162, 2017, pp. 242-258 Download PDF
View details
Are there signature limits in early theory of mind? Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, Volume 162, 2017, pp. 209-224 Download PDF
View details
Young children’s attributions of causal power to novel invisible entities Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, Volume 162, 2017, pp. 268-281 Download PDF
View details
View more articles
Citing articles (0) Article Metrics Captures Exports-Saves:
5
Readers:
6
Social Media Shares, Likes & Comments:
10
Tweets:
6
View details
About ScienceDirect
Remote access
Shopping cart
Contact and support
Terms and conditions
Privacy policy
Cookies are used by this site. For more information, visit the cookies page. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. or its licensors or contributors. ScienceDirect ® is a registered trademark of Elsevier B.V.