Even before your baby says their first word, they might already be lying to you.
According to a new study, around a quarter of children can understand deception by 10 months old, with a small number grasping it at just eight months.
By 17 months, half have learned to use rudimentary measures to hoodwink their parents, from pretending not to hear them to hiding toys so they don’t have to share.
Toddlers continue to build techniques like getting up to mischief in secret, making excuses and exaggerating or downplaying their behaviour — typically mastering the art of the fib at about age three.
The University of Bristol’s research saw more than 750 parents in the UK, US, Australia and Canada questioned about their child’s development.
Of this group, 130 reported noticing up to 16 types of deception before their baby reached 47 months, starting with the likes of shaking their head to say ‘no’ when asked if they’d eaten chocolate they definitely just ate.
Once learned, these ‘action-based’ falsehoods continue to ramp up, until they start to become more proficient from two years old onwards.
Study lead author Elena Hoicka, professor of education at the University of Bristol, explains that at this point, children work out how to withhold information, ‘for instance accurately telling their parents their sibling hit them, while leaving out the fact that they hit their sibling first.’
She continued: ‘It was fascinating to uncover how children’s understanding and usage of deception evolves from a surprisingly young age and builds in their first years so they become quite adept and cunning “little liars”.
‘Previous research has often focused on deception as something very sophisticated requiring strong language skills and an advanced understanding of others’ minds.
‘By considering how deception occurs in animals, including chimpanzees, capuchin monkeys, antelopes, and birds, and applying this to young children, we were able to document the first much earlier forms of deception in young children – and it would seem to start very early on indeed.
Do you think your little one has worked out how to lie to you?
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Definitely, it's almost impressive!
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I don't think they've worked it out yet — thank goodness!
‘As a mother of three children myself, I can certainly vouch for how artful and wily they can be. Hiding under the table or in the bathroom to eat sweets or chocolate is their common ploy.’
Professor Hoicka says she hopes the findings will reassure parents and educators that these behaviours are ‘entirely normal in toddler development’, and help give them a benchmark of what to expect ‘in order to stay one step ahead of their deceit.’
‘Philosophers have long reflected on the morality of human deception, but always focused on adults deceiving one another,’ added research paper co-author Jennifer Saul, professor of philosophy at the University of Waterloo and author of Lying, Misleading, and What is Said.
‘This study shows just how much complexity gets overlooked by that focus.’
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