As found in previous studies , with age children were
better able to maintain their lies. Contrary to Talwar and Lee (2011),
who found that children in a punitive environment were better at maintaining their lies,
this study found that expectation of punishment had no effect.
It may be that an environment where there is continuous punishment has longer lasting effects on
children’s lying behavior and expectations of punishment. Interestingly,
the efficacy of appeals to tell the truth did not significantly affect children’s ability to maintain their lies.
It may be that appeals to tell the truth only affect children’s initial decision to lie or not.
Once they have committed to telling a lie by giving a false denial about their peeking behavior,
children try to the best of their ability to conceal their transgression.
It is possible that children who hear an appeal