Abstract
The relation between children’ lying behaviour and their mental state understanding was investigated among a group of 3‐ and 4‐year‐olds (total N = 97). Two types of lying were examined: concealing‐transgression lying, which was assessed using a temptation resistance paradigm, and competitive game lying, which was assessed using a hide and seek paradigm. Mental state understanding was examined using a theory of mind scale that assessed children’s understanding of diverse desire, diverse belief, knowledge access, false belief, and belief‐emotion. After controlling for age and verbal ability, children’s concealing‐transgression lying was not related to any type of mental state understanding, whereas children’s competitive game lying was significantly related to their understanding of diverse belief and belief‐emotion. These findings provide evidence that the cognitive correlates of young children’s lying can differ as a function of the specific type of lie.