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Pathological Lies In Children

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If you have spent time around young children, then you understand the saying, “children say the darndest things.” They can either be brutally honest, or the wildest story tellers you have ever met. If you find yourself on the listening end of these wild stories, or lies, should you be concerned and wonder if the child may potentially turn into a pathological liar? The answer is no. Children lie for many reasons, and their ability to do so effectively, is an indication of healthy mental development (Lee, 2016, TED).
According to Kang Lee, a developmental psychologist that has been studying lying in children for more than 20 years (Moyer, 2014, par. 3), there are 3 common misconceptions regarding children and lying (Lee, 2016, TED). These misconceptions are that children only lie after entering elementary school, children are poor liars and adults can easily detect their lies, finally, if children lie at a young age there must be character …show more content…
Lee stated, in a 2016 Ted talk, there are two key ingredients needed for lying. The first being, a child must have achieved what is called, theory of mind. This is the ability to differentiate between what I know and what you know, or understanding that, “I know, that you don’t know, what I know.” Second, they must achieve self- control, or the ability to control their speech, facial expressions and body language (Lee, 2016). Mastering these ingredients or achieving the ability to lie, is a reflection on development of important cognitive skills (Moyer, 2014, par. 5). Cognition is defined as all the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering and communicating (Meyers and DeWall, 2014, pg. 75). If you take into consideration all aspects needed for a child to lie, for example, “not only be able to produce a false statement, but also be able to support it throughout subsequent statements” (Talwar, Renaud, et. Al, 2015, par. 5), you can see how cognition is achieved with the ability to

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