How to pronounce "selfcontrol"

The second key ingredient for good lying is self-control.

It is the ability to control your speech, your facial expression

and your body language,

so that you can tell a convincing lie.

And we found that those young children

who have more advanced mind-reading and self-control abilities

tell lies earlier

and are more sophisticated liars.

As it turns out, these two abilities are also essential for all of us

to function well in our society.

In fact, deficits in mind-reading and self-control abilities

are associated with serious developmental problems,

such as ADHD and autism.

So if you discover your two-year-old is telling his or her first lie,

instead of being alarmed,

you should celebrate --

(Laughter)

because it signals that your child has arrived at a new milestone

of typical development.

Now, are children poor liars?

Do you think you can easily detect their lies?