Lee Flashcards
Key theme
Moral development
Morality
Principles that are concerning that there is a difference between right and wrong or good and bad behaviour.
Moral development
Process where children develop attitudes and behaviours towards other people in society.
e.g rules and laws.
Communism
A theory or system of social organisation in which all property is owned by the community and each person contributes and receives according to their ability and needs.
Individualism
Being independent and self-reliant- strives for own goals and sees being unique as positive attribute.
Self-effacement
Not claiming attention for oneself.
Self-aggrandisement
Action or process of promoting oneself as powerful or important.
Prosocial behaviour
Social behaviour that benefits behaviour or society as a whole.
Antisocial behaviour
A behaviour that is likely to harass, distress or cause alarm to another being.
The Ideology of the people’s republic of china
From a young age chinese children systematically educated to promote personal sacrifice for social good and that honesty and modesty are important.
Taught to be truthful and report misdeeds, not cheat, steal.
Should not brag about prosocial (helpful) deeds or achievements, and reserve ‘unsung heroes’ (taught from young age to lie when do something good, shouldn’t admit it)
Ideology of the western world
Individualistic cultures; UK, Canada etc.. children taught to own up to misdeeds, but it is okay to tell ‘white lies’ to avoid hurt/ embarrassment.
Taught that it is not admirable to conceal laudable behaviour (action deserving praise)
Self promotion is thought to enhance self esteem, independence & achievement, encouraged in school.
Background
-interest in how children make moral decisions on ‘naughty behaviour’.
-Relevance to children as eyewitnesses in court, to trust evidence of children, need to know if they understand difference between lie & truth telling.
-‘intention’- if one doesn’t intend to be untruthful are they judged as less naughty than telling an intentional lie?
-Is social context of lie important?
-In eastern and western cultures particularly, honesty conflicts with other moral values.
Summary
Difference between Chinese and Western cultures regarding moral significance of lying and truth telling good deed and misdeed situations, Lee compared Chinese & Canadian children’s moral judgement.
Examined extent cultural practices affect development of children’s understanding and moral evaluations of lying.
Presented 4 brief stories depicting situations familiar to both cultures, 2 involved a child carrying out a good deed, 2 involved doing bad deed, either lied or told truth.
Child ps were asked to evaluate story characters’ deeds and verbal statements.
Aim
To investigate cross-cultural differences in children’s understanding of moral valuations of lying.
Aimed to compare responses of Chinese and Canadian ps to stories involving lying and truth telling in prosocial & antisocial situations.
Sample
2 groups of children
Each group split into 3 age groups
Then split again into males and females.
120 Chinese children (mean ages 7.5, 9.4 and 11.3)
40 in each group (40 x 3) (20 male, 20 fem)
108 Canadian children (mean ages 7.4, 9.6, 11.5)
Not equal size groups/gender like chinese.
36 children (20 males, 16 fem) mean age of 7.4.
40 had mean age of 9.6 (24 male, 16 fem)
32 had mean age of 11.5 (14 male, 16 female)
4 designs relating to each of the four IV’s
1) Independent measures/ Lab
2) Repeated measures
3) Cross sectional/quasi
4) Cross cultural/quasi
Independent measures/ lab
One group heard social story, One heard physical (IV= social & physical story)
Repeated measures
Each ps heard 2 prosocial and 2 antisocial stories (IV= prosocial/antisocial story)
Cross sectional/ quasi
Children from different age groups compared.
(IV= age, 7,9,11)
Cross cultural/ quasi
Children from 2 different cultures compared.
(IV= chinese & canadian children)
Physical story
Prosocial behaviour truth telling stories.
Prosocial behaviour lie telling stories.
Antisocial behaviour truth telling stories.
Anti social behaviour lie telling stories.
Social story
Prosocial behaviour truth telling stories.
Prosocial behaviour lie telling stories.
Antisocial behaviour truth telling stories.
Anti social behaviour lie telling stories.
Dependent Variable
Rating given to story character’s deed.
Rating given to what character said.
Ratings were on 7 point scale where
3 (***)= very good and
-3 (xxx)= very very naughty
Materials- Physical stories
Children took pages out of books, no social issue, just physical act.
Materials- Social stories
Someone either gets hurt (anti-social) or helped (prosocial)
Children were asked
If the act was right or wrong (good or naughty) and then after the lie/truth is told, they were asked if the act (truth telling or lie telling) is good or naughty.
Procedure summary
Children were tested individually - first told meaning and symbols on 7 point rating chart-then read either 4 physical stories or four social stories.
After each, were asked ‘is what the child did good or naughty?’
Then rated verbally or non verbally on rating chart.
Controls
1) Meaning of each symbol was repeated every time question was asked.
Children were asked second section of story and asked ‘was what the child did good or naughty?’
Child answered again.
2) Words good or naughty were alternated with subjects.
3) To control for order effects the stories were presented in random order for each ps.
Results
Answers were converted into point scores (3= very good, 0 = nor good nor naughty, -3= very naughty)
Quantitative data was gathered.
Higher the score, the more the child approved of actions.
Lower the score, more disapproved.
Post-test questioning
Researchers did post-test questioning asking why children gave good or naughty (quantitative and qualitative data).
Similarities in Canadian and Chinese children
Similarities were found in negative rating in antisocial situations and positive ratings of truth telling in those stories.
Differences in Canadian and Chinese children
Chinese children differed in their evaluations of truth telling and lying in prosocial.
Tended to rate truth telling LESS positively than Canadian counter parts.
Rated lying in prosocial more positively than Canadian.
Cultural distinctions became more obvious within older age groups, children rate lying more positively in prosocial situations.
Result in age differences in moral reasoning (Chinese)
70% of chinese 11 year olds rating lying positively in prosocial stories/situations, compared to just 25% of chinese 7 year olds.
Chinese children’s values growing up
They are taught values of self-effacement and modesty (not claiming attention to self) this impacts their moral reasoning as they age.
Socialization in school and through media, children’s judgements of right and wrong grow closer to society’s expectations.
Truth telling in prosocial is seen as ‘naughty’ as they perceive it as begging for praise.
3 main conclusions
1) Moral reasoning can be influenced by culture and society we live in.
2) Influence of socio cultural factors becomes stronger as we age.
3) Some aspects of moral reasoning are universal, e.g antisocial lying is bad.
