{Review} Social Thinking: Continuum of Truth

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One of the most interesting parts of Thinking About You, Thinking About Me for me was the section on the Continuum of Truth. It’s something I didn’t really think about needing to actually teach. Socially savvy people can decide when it’s appropriate to tell a white lie to spare someone’s feelings; however, those with pragmatic disorders often cannot. In order to teach this, I first went over the Continuum of Truth.

First, there’s TRUTH: this is what you believe to be a fact. The sky is blue, an apple is a fruit, it is the winter. We came up with some truths.

Second, there’s WHITE LIES: this is something that may not be the complete truth, but you say these to protect someone’s feelings, provided it doesn’t cause harm to that person. This is more of a gray area. I came up with some examples first, like “I like that shirt, you didn’t mess up your presentation that badly, I like your new haircut.”

Third, there’s BOLD-FACED LIES: this is something you say that you know is a lie to prevent yourself from getting in trouble. These may get other people in trouble. We came up with hypothetical situations, like blaming another student for cheating (when you were), not eating the last cookie (saying your sister did), etc.

I came up with some scenarios and had my students sort them into truths, white lies, and bold-faced lies. We had a discussion about when it’s ok to tell white lies vs. when it’s never ok to tell a lie. It’s an abstract concept for kids because “lie” has such a negative connotation for most.

Have you ever thought about doing a white lie vs. truth lesson?

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