A child begins to deliberately lie from this age. Why is it important to understand this?

Studies show that children begin to consciously use loopholes — tricks in which a request is formally fulfilled but its true meaning is ignored — as early as 5-6 years old, and the peak of such behavior occurs at 7-8 years old, Ukr.Media reports.

For example, if a parent says, “Time to put down the tablet,” a child might put it down on the table but continue playing. As the researchers point out, loopholes are a middle ground between submission and disobedience.

The researchers focused on relationships between children and parents, but such tricks could also be used in other situations where there are differences in the degree of closeness or hierarchy. For example, a child might use a loophole to comply with a request from a parent, but when asked by a younger sibling, they might simply refuse.

How was the research?

Scientists studied the behavior of 425 children (3-18 years old) based on parental feedback, and also conducted three experiments with 298 children (4-10 years old).

Here's what they found out:

• Children distinguish between such tricks as consent and refusal.
• Loopholes help avoid punishment and are used when the parents' requests do not coincide with the child's wishes.
• Children find loopholes funny: they smiled and laughed when they heard stories about such tricks.
• Children may invent new loopholes, for example, if they are forbidden to use a computer or phone.

On top of that, scientists have found that children believe that such tricks will lead to fewer problems than simply ignoring the request.

Why is this important?

Loopholes are found not only in children, but also in law, history, business, and politics. Studying this phenomenon will help you understand how communication works and how such witty actions or responses manifest.

“If we learn when and why children start using them, we can better understand not only this phenomenon, but also the general principles of communication,” the scientists note.

Psychologists, together with researchers, plan to find out why children begin to use loopholes at the age of 5-6 and how this is related to cognitive development.

Джерело: Source