DO THE ‘HARMLESS' LIES PARENTS children.

For example, "if you don't leave with

TELL CHILDREN HAVE AN IMPACT me right now, I will leave you here all alone."
THEIR EMOTIONAL WELL-BEING? Or, "I didn't bring my wallet with me, we will
come back another day."

The second questionnaire was related to the

participants' own lies to their parents. The
two others concerned their prosocial
behaviors and their tendencies to behave in
selfish and impulsive ways.

Identifying potentially harmful lies told to

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE children

/ Sat, October 5, 2019 / 09:01 am In analyzing the responses, the study's

authors noted that the adults whose parents
In analyzing the responses, the study's
seemed to have lied to them frequently were
authors noted that the adults whose parents
more likely to adopt intrusive, even
seemed to have lied to them frequently were
manipulative, behavior.
more likely to adopt intrusive, even
manipulative, behavior. (Shutterstock/-) "Authority assertion over children is a form of
psychological intrusiveness, which may
A study carried out by researchers at
undermine children's sense of autonomy and
Singapore's Nanyang Technological University
convey rejection, ultimately undermining
suggests that parents' lies may have
children's emotional well-being. Future
repercussions for their children's mental
research should examine the nature of the
health, including into adulthood.
lies and goals of the parents so that
Parents tend to lie at least a little bit to their researchers can suggest what kind of lies to
children. Sometimes they lie by omission, avoid, and what kind of truth-telling parents
sometimes out of spite, sometimes "for their should engage in," suggested Assistant
own good." It's important however to limit Professor Peipei Setoh of Nanyang Technical
lying and try to provide honest reasons to University Singapore's School of Social
children when refusing their requests, Sciences, the study's lead author.
according to researchers at Singapore's
While the theory is interesting, it is limited by
Nanyang Technical University.
the fact that the data came from participants'
The research, done in collaboration with self-reporting and, what's more, was based on
Canada's University of Toronto, the United childhood memories.
States' University of California, San Diego, and
The authors of the study also specified that it
China's Zhejiang Normal University, was
would be advisable to involve parents in
published in the The Journal of Experimental
future research on the subject, in order to
Child Psychology. For the study, 379 young
distinguish the "inoffensive" lies from those
adults (whose average was 21) were invited to
which could detract from their children's
fill out four questionnaires.
psychological well-being.
The first gauged the frequency with which
Source : Jakarta Post
they thought their parents lied to them as