Lee et al. (1997) - Lying and Truth-telling

What is the aim?

To investigate cross cultural differences in children's (Chinese/Canadian) understanding and moral valuations of lying

What is the independent variable?

• culture of child

• age of child

• type of story (social/physical)

• nature of story (prosocial/antisocial)

What is the dependent variable?

• rating given to the deed of the character

• rating given to characters words (lying/truthful)

What is the experiment type?

Lab experiment

What is the experimental design?

Independent measures

What is the procedure?

• children randomly allocated to hear social story (other people) or physical story (objects)

• they were individually tested using 4 stories

• each story was either prososical (good deed) or antisocial (bad deed)

• the person in the story either lied or told the truth about the deed

• the researcher then asked the child to evaluate how good/naughty the deed and the lie/truth was

• children used a 7-point likert scale (ranging from “very, very good” to “very, very naughty”), represented by words and symbols

• the acles were alternated during questioning to reduce order effects

What were the results?

• Chinese children rated lying in prosocial situations significantly more positively than Canadian

• 70% of Chinese children aged 11 rated lying positively in prosocial stories, 25% aged 7

Who were the participants?

• both groups selected from elementary schools & randomly assigned to groups

• 120 Chinese children, 20 male/female each age group

• 108 Canadian children, 36 (aged 7), 40 (aged 9), 32 (age 11)

What were the conclusions?

• antisocial lying is bad - universal view

• the influence of social and cultural factors increase with age

• moral reasoning can be influenced by our culture and society in which we live