Don't Lie to Me!
By: Elizabeth Zeppernick, M.Ed., BCBA, LBA
Can Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) teach honesty and reduce the breaking of rules? Studies show that more than 50% of children and adolescents between the ages of 3-16 break rules Examples of this include cheating at a game or school assignment, touching or sneaking a peek at things they shouldn’t or taking items from others. Not only this but in excess of 75% of those children were dishonest about their actions. (Polak & Harris, 1999; Evans & Lee, 2013; Talwar & Lee, 2002; Stocco et al., 2021; Talwar et al., 2007; Newton et al., 2000 & Wilson et al., 2003).
Transgressions or the breaking of rules and lying can affect the quality of a child’s relationship with both caregivers and peers so it’s worth addressing early and effectively. The challenge is that transgressions, which may be followed by a punishment or unfavorable response from a caregiver or peer, can lead to dishonesty to avoid that harsh consequence.
In their study “Increasing Young Children’s Honest Reports and Decreasing their Transgressions,” researchers Lehardy et al. (2022) sought to both reduce transgressions while simultaneously teaching and reinforcing honesty if and when it did occur. They worked with three male participants ages seven, seven and six. Two participants were diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and one was neurotypical. All three participants had a history of touching or taking items without permission. Examples included taking money, food, electronics, toys from siblings or peers. All participants had a history of lying about their actions when confronted.
Using a parent report and systematic preference assessment, researchers identified transgression items which were considered items so attractive to each participant that they would likely break a rule to access it. They also identified a second tier of items that were highly preferred which they called supplemental reinforcement and a third tier of items that were the lowest ranking of preference which they called session toys.
Training sessions took place in an ABA clinic, 2-5 days per week for a block of 50-75 minutes. The researchers observed the room via a concealed camera. They established a baseline which was the rate of transgressions and related dishonesty prior to any intervention. All participants transgressed and lied during this baseline period. The training room was set up with the students sitting at a table with the session toys or lowest preferred items and the most preferred transgression item in reach. The training sessions consisted of two phases: increasing honesty and then decreasing transgressions.
Increasing Honesty:
Experimenter sets the child up with the lowest preferred session toys and tells the child that the only way to play with the supplemental reinforcement (that second most preferred item) is to tell the truth.
Experimenter leaves the room.
Experimenter re-enters and inspects the transgression item (the highest preferred item).
Experimenter explains that if the child tells the truth they will access the supplemental reinforcement if they tell the truth. If they lie, they have to wait one minute and then access less preferred items.
The experimenter rewards honesty about the transgression by giving verbal praise and lets the child access five minutes of the supplemental reinforcement item. On the other hand, if the child lied, the experimenter says in a neutral tone, “That is a lie” and explains that the child will have to wait before accessing only the moderately preferred toys.
Decreasing Transgressions:
This procedure was similar to the steps outlined above but it differed in that the child accessed the highest supplemental reinforcement only for not transgressing. If they did not actively engage in the lowest preferred session toys or transgressed but were honest, the experimenter implemented a practice training using gestures and vocal prompts. If the child transgressed and lied they had a one minute delay and a practice session before playing again with neutral toys.
The results of this study indicate that this treatment package both reduced transgressions and increased and maintained honest reports. The engineered arrangement which provided the children with opportunity to engage with something without permission and lie about it (likely because of a long history of an aversive consequence), provided practice, correction and reinforcement needed to reduce transgressions and increase honesty. Research has shown that lies can become more sophisticated and transgressions can become more severe over time (Talwar et al., 2007; Talwar and Lee, 2002). In other words, taking a sibling's toy or a forbidden dessert at home may be okay now but if that graduates to shoplifting as an older adolescent, it can have more serious and long lasting consequences. For that reason, educators and caregivers may benefit from a protocol like this to address a child’s dishonesty and transgressions.
Sources:
Evans, A. D., & Lee, K. (2013). Emergence of lying in very young children. Developmental Psychology, 49(10_, 1958-1963. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0023425
Lehardy, R. K., Luczynski, K. C., Stocco, C.S., Fallon, M.J. and Rodriguez, N.M. (2022), Increasing young children’s honest reports and decreasing their transgressions. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis. https://doi.org/10.1002/jaba.960
Newton, P., Reddy, V., & Bull, R. (2000). Children’s everyday deception and performance on false-belief tasks. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 18(2), 297-317. https://doi.org/10.1348/026151000165706
Polak, A., & Harris, P. L. (1999). Deception by young children following noncompliance. Developmental Psychology, 35(2), 561-568. https://doi.org/10.1037//0012-1649.35.2.561
Stocco, C.S., Moline, A. D., & Bowar, S. (2021). Further evaluation of contingencies on lying about homework completion. Behavioral Interventions 36(3), 620-634. https://doi.org/10.1002/bin.1787
Talwar, V., Gordon, H. M., & Lee, K. (2007). Lying in the elementary school years: Verbal deception and its relation to second-order belief understanding. Developmental Psychology, 43(3), 804-810. https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.43.3.804
Talwar, V., & Lee, K. (2002). Development of lying to conceal a transgression: Children’s control of expressive behaviour during verbal deception. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 26(5), 436-444. https://doi.org/10.1080/01650250143000373
Wilson, A. E., Smith, M. D., & Ross, H.S. (2003). The nature and effects of young children’s lies. Social Development, 12(1), 21-45. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9507.00220
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