Lee et al. (1997)

Question 1

What is meant by the term ‘moral development?

Answer 1

How children begin to construct a system of beliefs about how we interact with others.

Question 2

What is meant by the term ‘individualist cultures’?

Answer 2

Focus is on the interest of the individual (western cultures mainly)

Question 3

What is meant by the term ‘collectivist cultures’?

Answer 3

Focus is on the needs of the group (eastern cultures mainly)

Question 4

What is mean by the term ‘self-aggrandisement’?

Answer 4

Bragging about personal achievements (e.g. high marks and good deeds)

Question 5

What is meant by the term ‘self-effacement’?

Answer 5

Not making yourself noticeable/not trying to make yourself noticed.

Question 6

What are the 3 main aims of Lee’s study?

Answer 6

• To investigate if there’s a difference between Canadian children and Chinese children in how they evaluate lying and truth-telling
• To see if Chinese and Canadian children would rate truth and lie telling differently in a pro-social setting (good deed), whereas they would rate it similarly in an anti-social setting (mis-deed)
• To investigate if this changes with age (between 7-11 years old)

Question 7

Outline the Chinese side of the sample.

Answer 7

• 120 Chinese children
• 40 of each age (7, 9 and 11 years old)
• All from same city - Hangzhai in China

Question 8

Outline the Canadian side of the sample.

Answer 8

• 108 Canadian children
• 36 7 year olds, 40 9 year olds and 32 11 year olds
• All from New Brunswich

Question 9

What experimental design was used in this study?

Answer 9

Independent measures used both in terms of ethnicity of the child and condition they were placed in.

Question 10

What are the 4 conditions of this study?

Answer 10

• Ethnicity of child
• Age of child (7, 9 or 11)
• Type of story (social or physical)
• Pro-social or anti-social settings

Question 11

What 4 types of stories were used for the 4 conditions?

Answer 11

• Pro-social truth-telling (physical and social) stories
• Pro-social lie-telling (physical and social) stories
• Anti-social truth-telling (physical and social) stories
• Anti-social lie-telling (physical and social) stories

Question 12

Give an example of a pro-social truth-telling physical story.

Answer 12

Jenny cleans out the school yard, and teacher asks Jenny ‘Do you know who cleaned the yard?’. Jenny replies ‘I did it.’

Question 13

Outline the procedure of the study.

Answer 13

• Children tested individually
• Child would listen to either 4 social stories or 4 physical stories (randomly allocated)
• During each story, child read first half and then asked ‘Was what ***** did good or naughty?’
• Child responds to this question using a 7-point rating scale
• Child then read second half of story, and use the same rating scale to answer a second question (same as before)

Question 14

What were the overall results of the study?

Answer 14

• No significant difference in the order which stories were given
• No significant difference between genders
• Both cultures always saw good deeds as good and bad deeds as bad

Question 15

What were the results of the pro-social truth-telling stories?

Answer 15

• All ages of Canadian children similarly rated truth-telling
• As Chinese children got older, the less positively they rated truth-telling in pro-social situations

Question 16

What were the results of the pro-social lie-telling stories?

Answer 16

• Canadian children rated lie-telling negatively in pro-social situations
• Chinese children rate lie-telling negatively at age 7 but positively as age 11

Question 17

What were the results of the anti-social truth-telling stories?

Answer 17

-Both cultures rated truth-telling in the anti-social situation as positive

Question 18

What were the results of the anti-social lie-telling stories?

Answer 18

-Reactions to lie-telling in a bad situation changed based on age for both cultures (more negative as children aged)

Question 19

What did the Chinese children say when asked about why they rated pro-social truth-telling negatively?

Answer 19

They said the child was “begging for” or “wanting” praise.

One third of the Chinese children said you shouldn’t leave your name after doing a good deed.

Question 20

What is the main conclusion of this study?

Answer 20

Main conclusion is that moral development is different in different cultures as a result of socio-cultural norms and practices.