lee (1997)- evaluation of lying and truth-telling Flashcards
research method
This was a laboratory experiment which used an independent measures design.
• The independent variables (IVs) were:
(i) whether the participant heard the social story or the physical story
(ii) whether the participant heard (prosocial) stories involving a child who intentionally carried out a good deed (a deed valued by adults in both
countries) or (antisocial) stories involving a child who intentionally carried out a bad deed (a deed viewed negatively in both cultures).
There were therefore four conditions: Prosocial Behaviour/Truth-Telling stories, Prosocial Behaviour/Lie-Telling stories, Antisocial Behaviour/TruthTelling stories, Antisocial Behaviour/Lie-Telling stories.
• The dependent variables (DVs) were:
(i) the rating given to the story character’s deed (ranging between very, very good and very, very naughty)
(ii) the rating given to what the character said (verbal statement) (ranging between very, very good and very, very naughty).
• The fact that participants were read four scenarios (two prosocial and two antisocial) and asked to apply the same rating scale to both the
character’s deed and its response in each story means the study had elements of a repeated measures design within it.
sample
120 Chinese children: 40 7-year-olds (M age = 7.5 years, 20 male, 20 female), 40 9-year-olds (M age = 9.4 years, 20 male, 20 female), and 40
11-year-olds (M age = 11.3years, 20 male, 20 female). They were recruited from elementary schools in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, a mediumsized city (provincial capital) in the PRC.
• 108 Canadian children: 36 7-year-olds (M age = 7.4 years, 20 male, 16 female), 40 9-year-olds (M = 9.6 years, 24 male, 16 female), 32 11-year-olds
(M age = 11.5 years, 14 male, 18 female). They were recruited from elementary schools in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada. Like Hangzhou,
Fredericton is a provincial capital but its population is considerably smaller than Hangzhou.
• Although the socio-economic status of the Chinese children was not known (no such categorisation exists in the PRC), most Canadian children
were from middle-class families
outline- procedures
Half of the Chinese children participated in the social story condition and the other half were placed in the physical story condition. The
children were randomly assigned to each condition.
• From the Canadian sample: 19 7-year-olds, 20 9-year-olds and 17 11-year-olds were randomly assigned to the social story condition and the
other children were assigned to the physical story condition.
Materials
• Participants were read four scenarios accompanied by illustrations, two prosocial, two antisocial. All 8 stories can be found in Appendix of the
original article, however the Prosocial Behaviour/Lie-Telling story went as follows:
Here is Alex. Alex’s class had to stay inside at recess time because of bad weather, so Alex decided to tidy up the classroom for his teacher.
(Question 1: Is what Alex did good or naughty?)
So Alex cleaned the classroom, and when the teacher returned after recess, she said to her students, “Oh, I see that someone has cleaned the
classroom for me.” The teacher then asked Alex, “Do you know who cleaned the classroom?” Alex said to his teacher, “I did not do it.”
(Question 2: Is what Alex did good or naughty?)
• Each participant was tested individually.
• Participants were first instructed about the meaning of the words and the symbols for rating the deeds and verbal statements on a 7-point
rating chart. These were: very, very good (3 red stars), very good (2 red stars), good (1 red star), neither good not naughty (blue circle), naughty
(1 black cross), very naughty (2 black crosses), very, very naughty (3 black crosses).
• Participants were then read either the four social or four physical stories. The story’s ‘deed’ section was read first and then they would indicate
their rating either verbally, non-verbally or both on the rating chart.
• They were then read the second section of the story and would then indicate, in the same way, their rating for the character’s verbal statement.
• The meaning of each symbol was repeated every time a question was asked.
• The words ‘good’ and ‘naughty’, in the two questions were altered within subjects.
• To control for order effects, for each condition, two orders of the four stories were first determined using a randomisation table. About half of
the participants in each condition were read the stories in one predetermined order, and the other half were read them in the other order.
• Participants were then involved in post-experimental discussions.
conclusions
In the realm of lying and truth telling, a close relationship between socio-cultural practices and moral judgements exists.
• Specific social and cultural norms have an impact on children’s developing moral judgements, which in turn, are modified by age and
experience in a particular culture.
• Chinese children rate truth telling in prosocial situations less positively and lie telling in the same situations less negatively than Canadian
children.
• Both Chinese and Canadian children show similar moral evaluations of lie telling and truth telling related to antisocial behaviours.
• The emphasis on self-effacement and modesty in Chinese culture increasingly exerts its impact on Chinese children’s moral judgements.
• Moral development is a highly contextualised process and is affected by the culture and/or social environment in which individuals are
socialised
