Stanley, ``Children's Lies.'' Amer. Journal of
Psychology, Jan. 1890; pp. 59-70.
The fabrications, often quite clever, of the clearly insane,
which in earlier literature are confounded with pathological
lying, we have discriminated against as not being profitable for
us to discuss here, while not denying, however, the possibility
in some instances of lies coexisting with actual delusions. We
well remember a patient, a brilliant conversationalist and letter
writer, but an absolutely frank case of paranoia, whom we had not
seen for a period during which she had concocted a new set of
notions involving even her own claim to royal blood, confronting
us with a merry, significant smile and the remark, ``You don't
believe my new stories, do you?''
A short statement on the relation of lying to delinquency may be
of interest here. Ferriani's discussion[4] of the lying of 500
condemned juvenile offenders, with classification of their lies,
ranging from self-defense, weakness, and fancy, to nobility of
purpose, does not include our field. Nor does he leave much room
for appreciation of the fact we very definitely have observed,
namely, that plenty of young offenders are robust speakers of the
truth.
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