Victoria Talwar
Professor, Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology
Chair, Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology
Canada Research Chair, Tier II
Associate Member, Institute for Human Development and Well-Being (IHDW)
Associate Member, Dept. of Psychology

Ph.D., Queen's University
M.A., University of St. Andrews
Three primary areas:
Development of lying in children, including the cognitive-cultural-social factors affecting children's conceptual and moral knowledge about lying, theory of mind, and positive developmental trajectories.
Child witness testimony, developing evidence-based practices that facilitate children's truthful and accurate reports.
Cyberbullying, gossip and adolescent on-line engagement related to understanding youth's attitudes and perceptions as well as parental responses to youth's on-line engagement.
2018 Northeastern Association of Graduate Schools (NAGS) Graduate Teaching Award (Doctoral-level)
2017 Member, College of the Royal Society of Canada
2017 David Thomson Award for Graduate Supervision and Teaching, McGill University
2016 Fellow, Association for Psychological Science
2015 Fellow, Developmental Psychology (Division 7), American Psychological Association
Selected Articles i
Mugno, A., Malloy, L.C., Waschbusch, D.A., Pelham, W.E., & Talwar, V. (2019). An experimental investigation of antisocial lie-telling among children with disruptive behavior disorders and typically-developing children. Child Development, 90, 774-789.
Shouhoudi-Mojdehi, A., Leduc, K., Shouhoudi, A., & Talwar, V. (2019). Examining cross-cultural differences in youth’s moral perceptions of cyberbullying. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, & Social Networking, 22, 243-248.
Talwar, V., Lavoie, J., Crossman, A. (2019). Carving Pinocchio: Longitudinal examination of children’s lying for different goals. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 181, 34-55.
Leduc, K., Conway, L., Gomez-Garibello, C., & Talwar, V. (2018). The influence of participant role, gender, and age in elementary and high-school children’s moral justifications of cyberbullying behaviors. Computers in Human Behavior, 83, 215-220
Yachison, S., Okoshken, J., & Talwar, V. (2018). Students’ reactions to a peer’s cheating behavior. Journal of Educational Psychology, 110, 747-763
Conway, L., Gomez-Garibello, C., Shariff, S., & Talwar, V. (2016). Face-to-face and online: An investigation of children’s and adolescents’ bullying behavior through the lens of moral emotions and judgments. Journal of School Violence, 15, 503-522
Talwar, V., Gomez-Garibello, C. & Shariff, S. (2014). Adolescents' Moral Evaluations and Ratings of Cyberbullying: The effect of veracity and intentionality behind the event. Computers in Human Behavior, 36, 122-128. doi: 10.1016/j.chb.2014.03.046
Lee, K., Talwar, V., McCarthy, A., Ross, I.., Evans, A., & Arruda, C. (2014). Can classic moral stories promote honesty in children? Psychological Science. DOI: 10.1177/0956797614536401
Saykaly, C., Talwar, V., Lee, K., Lindsay, R.C.L., & Bala, N. (2013) The influence of multiple interviews on the verbal markers of children’s deception. Law and Human Behavior, 37(3), 187-196. doi: 10.1037/lhb0000023
Moore, K., Talwar, V., & Bosacki, S. (2012) Canadian children’s perceptions of spirituality: diverse voices. International Journal of Children's Spirituality, 17 (3), 217-234. doi:10.1080/1364436X.2012.742040
Talwar,V., & Crossman, A. M. (2012). Children’s lies and their detection: Implications for child witness testimony. Developmental Review, 32, 337-359. doi:10.1016/j.dr.2012.06.004
Talwar, V., & Crossman, A. (2011). From little white lies to filthy liars: The evolution of honesty and deception in young children. Advances in Child Development and Behavior, 40, 139-179.
Bosacki, S., Moore, K., Talwar, V., & Park-Saltzman, J. (2011).Preadolescents’gendered spiritual identities and self-regulation. Journal of Beliefs and Values: Studies in Religion and Education, 303-316.
Popliger, M., Talwar, V., & Crossman, A. M. (2011). Predictors of children’s prosocial lie-telling: Motivation, socialization variables, and moral understanding. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 11, 373-92.
Talwar, V. & Lee, K. (2011). The effects of punitive environment on lying in young children: a naturalistic study. Child Development, 82, 1751-1758.
Talwar, V. & Lee, K. (2008). Social and Cognitive Correlates of Children’s Lying Behavior. Child Development, 79, 866-881.