The moral, epistemic, and mindreading components of children'svigilance towards deception

摘要

Vigilance towards deception is investigated in 3- to-5-year-old children: (i) In Study 1, chil-dren as young as 3 years of age prefer the testimony of a benevolent rather than of a malev-olent communicator. (ii) In Study 2, only at the age of four do children show understandingof the falsity of a lie uttered by a communicator described as a liar. (iii) In Study 3, the abil-ity to recognize a lie when the communicator is described as intending to deceive the childemerges around four and improves throughout the fifth and sixth year of life. On the basisof this evidence, we suggest that preference for the testimony of a benevolent communi-cator, understanding of the epistemic aspects of deception, and understanding of its inten-tional aspects are three functionally and developmentally distinct components ofepistemic vigilance.