Young children's classification of the corroboration of a false statement as the truth or a lie

This article reports on an investigation of children's definitions of the truth that can pertain to their ability to provide accurate information during an, investigation or trial: whether corroborating an inaccurate statement made by a parent is lying or telling the truth. Subjects were 133 preschool through third-grade children who were shown a videotape in which either a boy makes a false statement to a neighbor about the neighbor's daughter hitting him and his mother listens passively or a mother makes a similar false statement and the boy corroborates it. None of the children classified the corroboration as the truth. Only a small percent of the preschool and kindergarten children classified the boy's or mother's initial false statement as the truth; all of the older children classified these statements as a lie. About 20% of the children recalled incorrectly that the neighbor's daughter hit the boy.This project was supported with funds from the College Research Grant Fund of the College of Human Ecology, Cornell University. Great appreciation goes to several schools, including Groton Elementary (Joseph Amore, Principal), Montessori School of Ithaca (Carol Hill, Co-Administrator), Ithaca Community Child Care Center (Gloria Landis, Teacher), and Pinwheels Day Care Center (Kendra Maturo, Administrator). Virginia Alhusen, Ph. D., managed data collection and analysis for the project superbly.