The Truth About Children Who Lie

Lying is a hot topic: for philosophers and psychologists, economists and linguists, there’s a huge current interest in public and private deception and what we should make of it.

In this programme, psychotherapist Philippa Perry looks at the fascinating work being done to understand the development of lying in children. How and why do children lie? Do children take their untruthful cue from parents? Taking into account childhood imagination, Philippa explores the curious interplay between the real and imaginary in childhood. Through the programme we hear children themselves talking about lying and witness some experiments being done to investigate the development of the lying capacity.

Produced by Victoria Ferran and Susan Marling

Broadcast Date: 23rd August 4pm 2016