Children's understanding of epistemic conduct in self-deception and other false belief stories.

Abstract

In self-deception persons accept false beliefs through a motivated disregard for countervailing evidence. Such epistemic misconduct renders them responsible for their own deception. It was hypothesized that children's understanding of this responsibility would be associated with an understanding of how evidence informs belief. In the study 4- to 9-year-old children's understanding of the relations between false belief, evidence, and epistemic responsibility was examined using stories involving self-deception, lying, and misleading appearances. Results indicated that younger children who understood false belief understood simpler types of deception, but that understanding self-deceivers' epistemic responsibility was limited to older children who understood the relevance of evidence to belief formation.