In a new study, babies as young as eight months old were found to show deceptive behavior toward their parents. However, experts say it is not a red flag and may actually be a sign of healthy development.
Researchers asked parents of over 750 children questions regarding their children’s deceptive behavior. The study included babies between the ages of 0 and 42 months old. According to Parents.com, findings were based on reported behavior rather than direct observations.
“These modeling approaches can be useful for exploring patterns, but they also make the results more difficult to interpret in concrete, real-world terms – particularly for infants, where both the behaviors and underlying intentions are already challenging to define and measure,” Dr. Emma Murray, PhD, a licensed clinical psychologist at Phoenix Children’s, explains to the outlet.
She noted that “25% of children are predicted to understand the concept of deception at 18 months old and to produce deception at 16 months old.”
However, the deception that the researchers are referring to isn’t lying in the traditional sense, it’s something beyond that.
“We aren’t talking premeditated ‘lies’ here like the kind our older children and teens may spin,” says Sanam Hafeez, PsyD, a neuropsychologist and the director of Comprehend the Mind.
Dr. Murray adds that “although that definition may be applicable for some older toddlers and young preschoolers included in the study, the behaviors reported in infants are more likely a reflection of parental perceptions rather than ‘true’ deceptive or lying behavior.”
So why is this considered a positive sign? Experts say it points to normal brain development.
“My expert take is that infant deception is fundamentally a sign of healthy brain development, not a behavioral red flag, and this study does an important job of reframing it that way,” Dr. Hafeez shares.
Molly O’Shea, MD, a pediatrician and parenting expert, adds, “Early deception is a normal, healthy part of development, and in many ways, it’s a sign that your child’s brain is working well,” she says. “To deceive someone, a child has to recognize that they know something you don’t know, and have to predict how you’ll respond to their behavior. That’s genuinely sophisticated thinking for a 1 or 2-year-old.”