Lee et al

Question 1

Background of Lee

Answer 1

Piaget though young children didn’t consider the motives of characters in the stories when making moral judgments (differences between good lie+bad lie)

Kolberg = ethnocentric as applied american cultures to other cultures

Question 2

Aim of Lee

Answer 2

to investigate the cross-cultural differences in children’s moral judgments of lying by looking at chinese + canadian children

Question 3

Research method of Lee

Answer 3

Quasi experiment
Didn’t manipulate IV - who Chinese children were and who Canadian children were

Cross-sectional study
different ages compared at one point in time to see how age affects moral judgments

Question 4

Experimental design of Lee

Answer 4

Independent measures design
= two groups - chinese and canadian children divided into 3 age groups

Question 5

Sample of Lee

Answer 5

120 m+f chinese children aged 7, 9 or 11 from medium sized city

108 m+f candaian children aged 7, 9 or 11 from smaller city

China = children taught consider wider community above individual needs (collectivist)

Canada - western culture which emphasis individual needs and competition (individualist)

Question 6

Procedure of Lee

Answer 6

Each child randomly assigned to read 4 physical or 4 social stories
Physical = involved physical objects
Social = involved actions of main child character affecting other people.

Also had either prosocial or antisocial stories
Prosocial - child intentionally carrying out good deed
Antisocial- child intentionally carrying out a bad deed. At end child character lied and in others they told the truth

Children asked to decide whether the character in stories had been good or naughty on a 7-point rating chart + whether what the character said was good or bad

Stories presented in randomised order and researchers alternated words ‘good’ and ‘naughty’ in questions

Each child was involved in post-experimental discussion about why they made their decisions

Question 7

Variables in Lee

Answer 7

IV - whether the participant heard social story or physical story
- whether participant heard prosocial or antisocial stories

conditions
+ prosocial / truth-telling stories
+ prosocial / lie-telling stories
- antisocial / truth-telling stories
- antisocial / lie-telling stories

DV - rating on 7 point scale of goof or naughty
- verbal statement of rating given to what character said

Question 8

Results of Lee

Answer 8

Both Canadian + Chinese children viewed lying after a bad deed as negative but Chinese children more likely to rate lying after a good deed as positive

70% Chinese 11yr olds rated lying +vly in prosocial stories, compared to 25% of 7yr olds

Question 9

Conclusions of Lee

Answer 9

Social + cultural norms affect children’s moral judgments

Chinese rate truth telling in prosocial situations less positively due to Chinese cultural value of modesty

Both Chinese + Canadian children show similar moral evaluation of lie+truth telling related to antisocial behaviuors

Question 10

Generalisability of Lee

Answer 10

Males + females
Ethnocentrism minimised by conducting cross-cultural study

Children from china not representitive of all collectivist cultures

Children from canada not representitve of all individualist cultures

Question 11

Reliability of Lee

Answer 11

Standardised procedure
=children given same 7-point rating scale + asked how good/naught they though characters were
= all children given same instructions + four stories

Question 12

Applications of Lee

Answer 12

shows how cultural values can affect children’s moral judgements

suggests children can understand difference between good+bad deeds. suggest child witnesses can be used in court

Question 13

Validity of Lee

Answer 13

Lacks ecological validity
= make moral judgments about character in story than in real life

High Internal validity
= researchers randomised the order in which children were given stories,
=matched age + gender,
=randomly allocated participants to groups

Question 14

Ethics of Lee

Answer 14

Stories were age appropriate so no ethical issues

informed consent needed from parents + assent from children

Question 15

Evaluate type of data in Lee

Answer 15

Quantitive data = 7 point scale
Qualititive data = verbal comments on if character was good or naughty

+ quantitve data allowed easy comparison of chinese vs candaian judjements
+ qualititve informed lee’s conclusions about underlying reason for differences in rating of lying in prosocial situations

Question 16

Individual, Social, Cultural Diversity in Lee

Answer 16

INDIVIDUAL - foucused more on how culture affects moral development

SOCIAL - studies boys+girls + founf similarities in moral development so improves understanding of moral development in females

CULTURAL - showed moral development is due to cultural factors that affect whether lies should be told. Chinese more likely to think lying is positive in prosocial stories due to modesty values

Question 17

Lee relates to Developmetal Area

Answer 17

developmental area looks at how people change and develop over time

looked at how children’s moral judgments changed with age. Compared 7,9,11 yr olds in terms of moral judgments to lying+truth telling in prosocial + antisocial situations

Question 18

Lee improve understanding of key theme :moral development

Answer 18

Cross-cultural study shows how children’s moral judgments are different in Chinese + Canadian culture. Chinese children more likely to think lying in prosocial situations was good as they believe in modestly

suggests judgments isn’t just downt to age and progression through moral stages but are also affected by cross cultural