Why do toddlers lie?
Because they’re smart – according to the BBC.
“Toddlers who lie will do better”, is the BBC headline.
The gist of the article? In a toddler, lying is a sign of development and intelligence.
The director of the Institute of Child Study at Toronto University, Dr Kang Lee, said: “Parents should not be alarmed if their child tells a fib.
“Their children are not going to turn out to be pathological liars. Almost all children lie.
“It is a sign that they have reached a new developmental milestone.
“Those who have better cognitive development lie because they can cover up their tracks.”
Let’s put aside the old, dead “Correlation is not causation” horse for a second.
Theres a pervasive belief in our culture that Natural = Good. We see it on our supermarket shelves 
If it’s natural – if it’s the way things are without human interference – it must be good, no?
In this belief system, the fact that children lie – without being taught – as soon as they are smart enough to – isn’t seen as anything to worry about.
It’s something to celebrate – Hooray! You have a gifted child (congratulations!) who will make a heck of a banker someday!
And of course, in the Natural is Good scheme of things, the danger is not lying per se, but only pathological lying. There’s nothing wrong with it so long as you don’t do it too much. Don’t upset Nature’s balance. Because lying is natural, there is nothing intrinsically wrong with it – it only becomes wrong when taken out of balance.
God says something different – one of the fundamental lessons Scripture says we learn by looking at the world around us is that things are not okay and that the current state of the world is that it is cursed, incomplete and dying.
Yes, being smarter allows you to be more devious. You don’t need a study to tell you that.
The real question is, “Why do we even know the concept of ‘devious’?”
There’s no study in the world that will ever tell you that. But there doesn’t need to be – because that question was fully answered a long, long time ago.
This was because they had developed the ability to carry out a complex juggling act which involves keeping the truth at the back of their brains.
He added: “They even make bankers in later life.”
Dr Kang tested the children’s honesty by telling them not to peek at a toy placed behind their backs while leaving the room.
He then monitored their reactions by video and returned to ask if they had turned around, checking their responses against the recording.
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See also
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Babies ‘show social intelligence’
21 November 07Sci/Tech
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