Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 16, 2026

The Modified Temptation Resistance Task: A Paradigm to Elicit Children's Strategic Lie-telling
Published on: April 6, 2018
Evaluating claims people make about themselves: the development of skepticism
Gail D Heyman1, Genyue Fu, Kang Lee
1Department of Psychology, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla 92093-0109, USA. gheyman@ucsd.edu
Abstract:
The way in which children evaluate people's claims about their own psychological characteristics was examined. Among children ages 6-11 from the United States and China (total N=243), there was an age-related increase in skepticism about self-report concerning the highly value-laden characteristics honest, smart, and nice, but not concerning less value-laden characteristics. There were also differences between the countries: children from China showed greater skepticism about value-laden characteristics, and were more likely to assume that others might lie about characteristics that lack strong evaluative implications. Older children from China were especially likely to expect individuals to act in ways that are consistent with modesty norms when communicating about themselves.
Related Concept Videos
Self-Evaluation: Self-Enhancement and Self-Verification
Social Foundations of Self III: Self-Evaluation
Strategies of Self-Presentation II: Self-Verification
Self-Presentation: Self-Monitoring and Self-Handicapping
Self-Serving Bias
Social Foundations of Self II: The Generalized Other

