Lee Et Al Flashcards
Backgrounds of Lee et al’s 1997 study on truth telling
Moral judgements of lying
Young children find it hard to use intention when making moral judgements about naughtiness, e.g. judging a flying is good or bad in particular situations
In situation, Chinese children would write true telling less positively and telling less negatively than Canadian children
The difference to increase with age
No difference in antisocial situations
Aim of Lee et al’s 1997 study on truth telling
To compare children from an individualist (Canadian) and a collectivist(Chinese) culture expecting
In social situations, Chinese children would write truth, telling less positively and telling less negatively than Canadian children
Method design of Lee et al’s 1997 study on truth telling
Lab and cosy experiments
Chinese Canadian children cross, cultural/quasi experiment
DV rated story characters deed and what the character said on a seven point scale three very very good three very very naughty
Sample
120 Chinese children mean, ages, 7.5, 9.4 and 11.3 years, 20 boys and 20 girls in each age group
108 Canadian children, mean, ages, 7.4, 9.6 and 11.5 years
Material/apparatus
Four. Types of story =
1= protocol, and truth telling
2 =protocol and lie telling
3 = antisocial, and truth telling
4 = antisocial, and lie telling
Procedure
Participants were randomly assigned to the social or physical story condition. Each child was tested individually. Seven point rating scale was explained, full stories, social or physical –
Deed section was read to the child
Question one = is the child good or naughty?
Answer given verbally/nonverbally or both, on the rating chart.
Second section, of the story was read
Question two = is what the child said to his teacher naughty are good?
Answer given verbally/non-verbally or both on the rating chart
Each time the stories were read, the order of the stories were alternated. The order of naughty or good was also changed.
Results
No significant difference was found between boys or girls or change order of the stories
Prosocial and lie telling there was no significant difference for question two significant interaction between age and culture or children’s pro social/telling ratings became more positive as they got older, especially the Chinese children.
Conclusions
There were age related changes suggesting that continued exposure to the Chinese cultural emphasis on modesty has an impact on more development. This shows that although cognitive factors may be important. Cultural factors also matters in moral development
Research method and techniques
+The study tested a range of variables e.g. gender was manipulated across conditions and the researchers were able to show that this was not related to the children’s moral judgements
+Culture, individualistic versus collectivist was very cross condition so comparisons could be made
-Moral judgements were based on the way that the children reacted two stories, which may not reflect every day moral judgements
Validity and reliability
+ procedures were very simple and easy to standardise, which made the method of assessing more judgements, reliable
Sampling bias
The sample size was large, even the individual experimental conditions, e.g. seven-year-old Canadian girls given social stories had at least eight participants. Having a larger sample makes the results more generalisable.
-The samples were not representative of all communities as all the children came from urban rather than rural backgrounds
Types of data
Quantitative data, the children gave a rating between +3 and - 3. ( 7 point scale) for how good or naughty they thought the child in the story was that each story and mean value was calculated for each cultural and age group
Ethical considerations
We can presume that the children’s parents provided informed consent, and there was a debrief
Parents and children would have the rights to withdraw if the children felt distressed during questioning
Ethnocentrism
Lee et al considered and collectivist cultures. However, differences between groups of children could be due to socialisation practices and primary school.
