Lee Et Al (Contemporary Study)

Question 1

Individualistic cultures

Answer 1

Peoples identities are defined by PERSONAL achievements and choices
Right to do your own thing

Question 2

Collectivist cultures

Answer 2

Peoples identities are defined by the groups they are part of

Question 3

Background of this study

Answer 3

Kohlberg said that in terms of moral reasoning there is no cultural differences
But when it comes to honesty, differences in collectivist vs individualistic cultures exist so Lee wanted to discover if there were differences

Question 4

What part of morality are we looking at?

Answer 4

Honesty: telling the truth or a lie in a situation

Question 5

Aims

Answer 5

See if there are differences in moral reasoning in a collectivist culture (China) vs an individualistic culture (canada) in terms of how acceptable they rate truth telling after pro social or anti social story
See if there are changes in moral reasoning as the child gets older

Question 6

Independent variable

Answer 6

Age of children, either ages 7 to 9 to 11
Culture child was raised in (Chinese or Canadian)
Whether antisocial or pro social behaviour was depicted

Question 7

What type of study was this and why?

Answer 7

A quasi experiment because the independent variable of age and culture of child is naturally occurring and cannot be manipulated by researcher

Question 8

Experimental design and why?

Answer 8

Independent measures because the naturally occurring variable means we cannot have the same children experience one condition then ‘manipulate variable’ (eg change culture) and have them experience the other condition: each child only went through procedure once and results were compared across conditions

Question 9

Cross sectional study

Answer 9

A type of snapshot study where we can take a sample which encompasses children of different ages and compare responses across age groups to determine if there is a difference in moral reasoning (moral development)

Question 10

Why is this study cross sectional?

Answer 10

Because we collected data all in one go rather than followed up children later as they aged and compared results to when they were different ages
Compared results of different 11 year olds to different 9 year olds to different 7 year olds

Question 11

Sample

Answer 11

120 Chinese children: 40 11 year olds, 40 9 year olds, 40 7 year olds
108 Canadian children: 32 11 year olds, 40 9 year olds, 32 7 year olds

Question 12

Gender split across the sample

Answer 12

Fairly even in each age group within each culture

Question 13

Outline of the procedure

Answer 13

2 groups in total: social and physical stories
Children presented with 4 stories under each
Presented with rating scale after each story to say how morally good/bad they thought actions in this story were

Question 14

Social stories

Answer 14

When an action is targeted at an individual within the story

Question 15

Pro social, social stories

Answer 15

Giving money to a friend in need of lunch money

Question 16

Anti social, social stories

Answer 16

A child Pushing another child over

Question 17

Physical stories

Answer 17

In which the character of the story does something to target their environment than an individual either pro socially or anti socially

Question 18

Pro social physical stories example

Answer 18

Tidying up a classroom

Question 19

Anti social physical stories

Answer 19

Ruining library books by tearing out pages

Question 20

How were the children split into the physical stories condition?

Answer 20

60 Chinese children
52 Canadian children
Each had even split of age groups and gender within each age group

Question 21

How were the children sorted into the social stories condition

Answer 21

60 Chinese children
56 Canadian children
Each had even split of age groups and gender within each age group

Question 22

The 4 stories children saw

Answer 22

Pro social story + child told truth when asked
Pro social story + child told lie when asked
Anti social story + child told truth when asked
Antisocial story + child told lie when asked
These were either physical or social stories

Question 23

Counterbalancing

Answer 23

When half of the children in each group were presented with the stories in a different order to the other half

Question 24

Why is counterbalancing good?

Answer 24

Because this controls for order effects, eg so we know that the responses to each story are accurate and what the child believes, not impacted by boredom

Question 25

Why is counterbalancing good?

Answer 25

Because this controls for order effects, eg so we know that the responses to each story are accurate and what the child believes, not impacted by boredom

Question 26

How is data collected in this study?

Answer 26

After every story the child was presented with a rating scale = self report

Question 27

Rating scale

Answer 27

A 7 point scale with 7 options using symbols
very good
Circle = neither
very naughty

Question 28

What did child use the rating scale to rate?

Answer 28

Behaviour of child in the story
Their either truth telling or lie telling

Question 29

Why use symbols on rating scale?

Answer 29

So it’s easy for child to understand, increases validity

Question 30

Reversing the symbols?

Answer 30

In order to avoid the standard response set so we know the children aren’t choosing the same option each time
Increases validity = accurate reflection of their beliefs and not a measurement impacted by boredom

Question 31

Results in terms of gender

Answer 31

No significant difference

Question 32

Results in terms of either social/physical story

Answer 32

No significant difference

Question 33

Across cultures, was the rating for the deed in the story different?

Answer 33

No, both agreed that anti social behaviour was very naughty and pro social behaviour was very good

Question 34

Results for telling the truth after a pro social act

Answer 34

As Chinese children got older they were increasingly less favourable and voted it more naughty
Though Canadian children voted thus fairly favourably

Question 35

Results for lying after a pro social act

Answer 35

Chinese children voted this positively, score of +0.98
Canadian children voted thus negatively, score of -1.00

Question 36

Qualitative data collected

Answer 36

Chinese children quoted Chinese proverb: ‘one should not leave their name behind a good deed’

Question 37

Conclusions

Answer 37

Unlike Kohlberg’s claim, moral development does differ across cultures due to different norms and practises such as collectivist/individualist ideas on what defines a person
However moral development does develop with cognitive development as the age groups had significantly different ratings (voted stronger as they grew up)

Question 38

How is this similar to kohlbergs?

Answer 38

Both collected data using the self report method
Both used children in the study
Both were cross cultural
Both presented a scenario to Ps
Both considered moral development as u age

Question 39

Differences to Kohlberg’s study

Answer 39

Kohlberg was longitudinal, Lee was cross sectional
Kohlberg used interviews, Lee used rating scale question
Lee collected quantitative data but Kberg did not
Lee studied girls but Kberg only studied boys
Kberg says moral development is universal but Lee says culture impacts it