Answer: This study examined children’s secret-keeping for a parent and its relationship to trust, theory of mind, secrecy endorsement, and executive functioning (EF). Children (N = 107) between 4 and 12 years of age participated in a procedure wherein parents broke a toy and asked children to promise secrecy. Responses to open-ended and direct questions were examined. Overall, secret-keeping increased with age and promising to keep the secret was related to fewer disclosures in open-ended questioning. Children who kept the secret in direct questioning exhibited greater trust and better parental ratings of EF than children who disclosed the secret. Findings highlight the importance of both social and cognitive factors in secret-keeping development.
Explanation:
In "The Storyteller", by Saki, the theme that is best supported by the story the bachelor tells is <em>Pride comes before a fall.</em>
There are three children with their aunt on a train. They are boisterous. She tries to entertain them with a story about a good girl to whom good things happen. As the children are bored by it the bachelor, who travels in the same train tells them a story about a girl who is "horribly good". She has a lot of medals pinned in her dress and a wolf finds her because her medals make noise. Excessive pride comes before something bad makes you realize that you are not so good.
