Influence of social factors on the relation between lie-telling and children’s cognitive abilities

• Children’s lying was examined in relation to cognitive abilities and parenting styles.
• High authoritative parenting and high inhibitory control interacted to predict lying.
• This interaction also predicted the likelihood of maintaining the lie.
• Parenting behaviors may moderate the relation between lying and cognitive abilities.

Lie-telling may be part of a normative developmental process for children. However, little is known about the complex interaction of social and cognitive factors related to this developmental behavior. The current study examined parenting style, maternal exposure to stressors, and children’s cognitive abilities in relation to children’s antisocial lie-telling behavior in an experimental setting. Children (3–6 years, N = 157) participated in a modified temptation resistance paradigm to elicit spontaneous lies. Results indicate that high authoritative parenting and high inhibitory control interact to predict a lower propensity to lie, but those who did lie had better semantic leakage control. This suggests that although children’s lie-telling may be normative during early development, the relation to children’s cognitive abilities can be moderated by responsive parenting behaviors that discourage lying.