What makes a child tell the truth if the temptation to lie is great? It turns out that the desire to please others is more important to him than the desire to “be honest.”
Psychologists asked children aged 4 to 8 to spend a minute alone in a closed room. The experimenter left the toy in the room, warning the child not to look at it. The event was monitored by a hidden camera. The children were then asked if they had complied with the request, urging them to answer honestly. The psychologist told some of them that even if they looked at the toy, there was nothing wrong with it. He warned others that lying is bad. But less than others were deceived by those children who heard a positive “suggestion”: “it is very important to tell the truth, if you do it, you will do the right thing” and “if you tell the truth, you will make me very happy.” And in the second group of truthful answers were the most. According to the authors of the study, it is better for parents to avoid lectures and tell their children, even the smallest ones, more often about their feelings.
Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 2015, vol. 130.