Socio-cognitive correlates of primary school children's deceptive behavior toward peers in competitive settings
Competing for limited resources with peers is common among children from an early age, illustrating their propensity to use deceptive strategies to win. We focused on how primary school-age (6–8 years old) children's strategic deception toward peers is associated with their socio-cognitive deve...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2023-10-01
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| Series: | Acta Psychologica |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0001691823001956 |
| _version_ | 1797644731217346560 |
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| author | Narcisa Prodan Xiao Pan Ding Raluca Diana Szekely-Copîndean Andrei Tănăsescu Laura Visu-Petra |
| author_facet | Narcisa Prodan Xiao Pan Ding Raluca Diana Szekely-Copîndean Andrei Tănăsescu Laura Visu-Petra |
| author_sort | Narcisa Prodan |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Competing for limited resources with peers is common among children from an early age, illustrating their propensity to use deceptive strategies to win. We focused on how primary school-age (6–8 years old) children's strategic deception toward peers is associated with their socio-cognitive development (theory of mind and executive functions). In a novel computerized competitive hide-and-seek game, we manipulated the peer opponents' familiarity (familiar vs. unfamiliar) and actions (following vs. not following children's indications), as well as the stimuli likability (liked vs. disliked cards). Our findings demonstrated that children deceived the familiar opponent less than the unfamiliar one, indicating their determination to preserve positive peer interactions. We showed that theory of mind and executive functions significantly predicted children's willingness to deceive. Notably, second-order false belief understanding and visuospatial working memory positively predicted children's use of truths to deceive, whereas inhibitory control and cognitive flexibility efficacy scores were negatively related to their deceptive performance when using the same strategy. Implications for children's competitive behavior toward peers involving lie-telling are discussed. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T14:35:08Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-08e511ee6da94bce8919d72ef9ebcea5 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 0001-6918 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T14:35:08Z |
| publishDate | 2023-10-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Acta Psychologica |
| spelling | doaj.art-08e511ee6da94bce8919d72ef9ebcea52023-10-31T04:08:42ZengElsevierActa Psychologica0001-69182023-10-01240104019Socio-cognitive correlates of primary school children's deceptive behavior toward peers in competitive settingsNarcisa Prodan0Xiao Pan Ding1Raluca Diana Szekely-Copîndean2Andrei Tănăsescu3Laura Visu-Petra4Department of Psychology, Babes-Bolyai University, 400015 Cluj-Napoca, Cluj, RomaniaDepartment of Psychology, National University of Singapore, 117570 Singapore, SingaporeDepartment of Psychology, Babes-Bolyai University, 400015 Cluj-Napoca, Cluj, Romania; Department of Social and Human Research, Romanian Academy, 400015 Cluj-Napoca, Cluj, RomaniaJET-SERV S.R.L., RomaniaDepartment of Psychology, Babes-Bolyai University, 400015 Cluj-Napoca, Cluj, Romania; Department of Social and Human Research, Romanian Academy, 400015 Cluj-Napoca, Cluj, Romania; Corresponding author at: Research in Individual Differences and Legal Psychology Lab (RIDDLE), Babeș-Bolyai University, 37 Republicii Street, 400015 Cluj-Napoca, Romania.Competing for limited resources with peers is common among children from an early age, illustrating their propensity to use deceptive strategies to win. We focused on how primary school-age (6–8 years old) children's strategic deception toward peers is associated with their socio-cognitive development (theory of mind and executive functions). In a novel computerized competitive hide-and-seek game, we manipulated the peer opponents' familiarity (familiar vs. unfamiliar) and actions (following vs. not following children's indications), as well as the stimuli likability (liked vs. disliked cards). Our findings demonstrated that children deceived the familiar opponent less than the unfamiliar one, indicating their determination to preserve positive peer interactions. We showed that theory of mind and executive functions significantly predicted children's willingness to deceive. Notably, second-order false belief understanding and visuospatial working memory positively predicted children's use of truths to deceive, whereas inhibitory control and cognitive flexibility efficacy scores were negatively related to their deceptive performance when using the same strategy. Implications for children's competitive behavior toward peers involving lie-telling are discussed.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0001691823001956CompetitionDeceptionPeer relationsTheory of mindExecutive functionsPrimary school-age children |
| spellingShingle | Narcisa Prodan Xiao Pan Ding Raluca Diana Szekely-Copîndean Andrei Tănăsescu Laura Visu-Petra Socio-cognitive correlates of primary school children's deceptive behavior toward peers in competitive settings Acta Psychologica Competition Deception Peer relations Theory of mind Executive functions Primary school-age children |
| title | Socio-cognitive correlates of primary school children's deceptive behavior toward peers in competitive settings |
| title_full | Socio-cognitive correlates of primary school children's deceptive behavior toward peers in competitive settings |
| title_fullStr | Socio-cognitive correlates of primary school children's deceptive behavior toward peers in competitive settings |
| title_full_unstemmed | Socio-cognitive correlates of primary school children's deceptive behavior toward peers in competitive settings |
| title_short | Socio-cognitive correlates of primary school children's deceptive behavior toward peers in competitive settings |
| title_sort | socio cognitive correlates of primary school children s deceptive behavior toward peers in competitive settings |
| topic | Competition Deception Peer relations Theory of mind Executive functions Primary school-age children |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0001691823001956 |
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