Kathryn Hughes begins her review (28 July) of The Truth About Lies by Aja Raden thus: “At about the age of 18 months babies start to get sneaky. They hide food they don’t like and go in for bouts of fake crying.” In what follows, she does not question the author’s apparent suggestion that these behaviours amount to lies or their basis.
But if lying is defined as intention to deceive, these behaviours, if not better described, are very poor evidence for it. Regarding putting disliked food where it cannot be seen: seen by whom? It might simply be for the children themselves to avoid seeing something disliked: out of sight, out of mind (like out of the pram).
“Fake crying” is not necessarily explained by intended deceit; children often learn that crying attracts attention, regardless of its cause or signification. Of course, these qualifications per se are irrelevant to the question of when infants distinguish reality from appearance or truth from falsehood, or intentionally try to deceive.
Anthony Marcel
London
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