Even toddlers tell untruths

Why and when young children lie are just some of the insights into human development found in new studies from U of T's Kang Lee - research that's grabbing headlines around the world. In January, the University Distinguished Professor with the University of Toronto's Eric Jackman Institute of Child Study published a major study on lying, in Developmental Psychology which sparked widespread attention. Another important study , this one focused on altruism in children who have survived disaster, will soon appear in a forthcoming issue of Psychological Science but media outlets such as Time have already shared some of the results. U of'T News spoke with Lee about his findings. What were the findings from your study about toddlers' ability to lie? Children are often believed to be honest and will never lie. For example, there was a long held view that children will never lie and therefore their testimony should be always trusted. Also, many parents believe that if their children do "lie", they are simply acting out their imagination, and thus do not really tell lies in the true sense of the word. Our study used experimental methods to establish clearly that even two-year-olds would lie. However, it should be noted that if you are looking for the most honest group of kids, two-year-olds are the group because only 25 per cent of them lie. When you go up by one year, 50 per cent of three-year-olds lie. After four years, most children lie (above 90 per cent). Rate reaches 100 per cent by seven to eight years of age. Should parents be worried their child's lying could get out of control later in life if they're already fibbing at such a young age?