Abstract: The current study examined age differences in the participants' concept and moral evaluations of lying and truth telling. Three , 4 , 5 , 7 , 9 , 11 year olds, students from secondary school, and undergraduates were read scenarios about scenario characters making truthful or false statements in various conditions, and were asked to determine whether the characters lied and to make moral judgements on their statements. Results showed that: 1) most 4 year olds had ability to understand the concept of white lie and truth telling, while almost all 3 year olds could not. 2) all participants, except the 3 year olds, mainly relied on factuality to determine whether a statement was a lie;3) from primary school, the older the participants were, the more effect of communicative motivation or setting factors on the moral evaluation on different kinds of lie and truth telling had.

Key words: lying/truth telling, communicative motivation and setting, moral evaluation