FAMILY BACKGROUND IN RELATION TO DECEPTIVE ABILITY AND UNDERSTANDING OF THE MIND

The purpose of this study was to determine whether social factors migh t be linked with the development of certain aspects of deception. Fift y-seven children aged between 4 and 5 years were assessed for their ab ility to be convincing in an act of deception (expressive deception) a nd also for their understanding that minds are susceptible to deceptio n (theory of mind). The mothers of 34 of the children completed a ques tionnaire which provided information on socio-economic status, parenti ng style, parental stress and family structure. The results revealed s ignificant associations with family background and deceptive ability. Stepwise multiple regression analyses, controlling for age, identified socio-economic status as a predictor of understanding that the mind i s susceptible to deception (theory of mind). In contrast, single paren t stress emerged as the major predictor of variance in expressive dece ption. Deceptive socialisation practices specific to single parents we re considered Implications for the dissimilar developmental pathways o f theory of mind and expressive performance in deception are discussed .