Children Lie More When They Are Afraid of the Consequence. Honesty Is a Safety Issue, Not a Moral One.
Children do not lie because they are morally deficient. They lie because they have correctly identified that the truth produces a worse outcome than an alternative. Victoria Talwar at McGill found that children from strict punishment-heavy schools were significantly better liars. The environment designed to produce good behaviour produced expert deception instead. Honesty is not a moral issue. It is a safety issue.
