Lee

• Background

  • Sweetser suggested that lying is a socio-cultural construct and that the understanding of lying is greatly influenced by cultural norms and the moral values in which individuals are socialised.
• Background

  Western- Individualistic cultures

  • Raise their children in industrialised environments.
  • Emphasise individualism and deeds which benefit oneself, self promotion/ assertion
  • Emphasise competition with others in terms of social, educational and economic success.
• Background

  Western- individualistic cultures

  • Self-promotion is thought to enhance self-esteem so is encouraged in schools.
  • The concept of 'white lies' is tolerated, whilst lying is not encouraged.
• Background

  Eastern- Sociocultural

  • China is a collectivist society that promotes personal sacrifice for the social good and taking a more community-based stance on behaviour and deeds.
  • Chinese children are educated using this ideology from nursery age.
• Background

  Eastern- sociocultural

  • In China, schools are required to promote honesty and modesty through political education programmes
  • Taught specific slogans: "be an honest good child", "one must be brave to admit wrong-doing"
• Background

  Eastern- sociocultural

  • Children are taught not to brag about personal achievements an not to seek praise and emphasise their strengths too much.
  • They are taught that those who commit good deeds are 'unsung heroes'.
  • There are textbooks that condone lying in conjunction with good deeds
• Aim

  • To investigate cross-cultural differences in children's understanding and moral valuations, including lying and truth telling, prosocial and antisocial situations.
• Sample

  • 120 Chinese children were recruited from elementary schools in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province.
  • This is a medium sized city (provincial capital)
  • There were 40 children from each age group (7, 9 & 11 year olds).
• Sample

  • 108 Canadian children were recruited from elementary schools in Fredericton, New Brunswick.
  • This is a provincial capital, but is considerably smaller than Hangzhou.
  • There were 36 7 year olds, 40 9 year olds, and 32 11 year olds.
• Research Method

  • This was a laboratory experiment.
• Research Method

  • It used an independent measures design (children were either given physical or social stories).
• Research Method

  • It can be considered a quasi experiment.
  • This is because you cannot manipulate a child's cultural background or age.
• Research Method

  The IVs were:

  • Whether the child was Chinese or Canadian
  • Whether the child was 7, 9 or 11 years old.
  • Whether the participant heard the social stories or the physical stories.
• Research Method

  • The physical stories involved a child committing an act, either good or bad, towards some object or place.
  • The social stories involved a child committing an act, either good or bad, towards another child.
• Research Method

  • Participants were read four scenarios (either all physical or all social) accompanied by illustrations. Two were prosocial and two were antisocial.
• Research Method

  The four story types were:

  • Prosocial behaviour/ Truth-telling stories
  • Prosocial behaviour/ Lie-telling stories
  • Antisocial behaviour/ Truth-telling stories
  • Antisocial behaviour/ Lie-telling stories
• Research Method

  • In total, 12 conditions were created.
• Research Method

  Within each story, there were two questions the child had to answer:

  1. Is what x did good or naughty?
  2. Is what x said to their teacher good or naughty?
• Research Method

  • The children were given a 7-point rating scale to use to answer the two questions.
  • This spanned from very very good to very very naughty.
  • It was clearly operationalised and used stars and crosses.
• Research Method

  The DVs were:

  • The rating given to the character's deed
  • The rating given to what the character said.
• Research Method

  • The study had elements of a repeated measures design as participants were read four scenarios (two prosocial, two antisocial) and were asked to apply the same rating scale to both the character's deed and its response.
• Procedure

  • The stories were constructed to be familiar to schoolchildren in both cultures.
  • The children were randomly assigned to each condition- physical or social.
• Procedure

  • The meaning of each symbol on the rating scale was repeated every time a question was asked.
  • The words 'good' and 'naughty' in the two questions were altered so that some participants heard the scale going up and some heard the scale going down.
• Procedure

  • To control for order effects, for each condition, the orders of the four stories were first determined using randomisation table.
• Procedure

  • Post experimental discussions were conducted with children to gather qualitative data.
• Results

  • Participant's rating were converted so that very very naughty= -3, up to very very good= 3.
• Results

  • Every good deed had a positive score and every bad deed had a negative score, whatever the age or culture of the child.
  • However, the ratings of truth telling and lie telling showed significant differences between cultures.
• Results- Prosocial behaviour/ truth-telling situations

  • There were no significant differences between ratings of prosocial behaviours (children of both cultures rated them positively).
• Results- Prosocial behaviour/ truth-telling situations

  • Canadian children at each age gave similarly positive ratings of truth telling in the prosocial situations.
  • However, Chinese children's ratings became less positive as age increased. This suggests they didn't like the idea of the child speaking about the prosocial act.
  • There is a difference in culture.
• Results- Prosocial behaviour/ lie-telling situations

  • Canadian children rated lie telling in this situation negatively, but as age increased their ratings became less negative. This shows that younger children didn't like lying but as they got older, they were less bothered by this lie.
  • Chinese children's ratings of lie telling in this situation changed from negative to positive as age increased- they did not like the idea that a child would want credit for their actions.
• Results- Prosocial behaviour/ lie-telling situations

  • Canadian children rated lie telling in the prosocial situation slightly negatively at age 11 whilst Chinese children rated lie telling positively in the prosocial situation.
• Results- Antisocial behaviour/ truth-telling situations

  • Children from both cultures rated the antisocial behaviours similarly negatively.
  • There was no significant difference.
• Results- Antisocial behaviour/ truth-telling situations

  • Children from both cultures rated truth telling in this situation very positively.
• Results- Antisocial behaviour/ lie-telling situations

  • The results were significant- children of both cultures rated the antisocial behaviours differently in different age groups in the two conditions (social & physical).
• Results- Antisocial behaviour/ lie-telling situations

  • The 7 year old children from China rated the antisocial behaviour towards a person more negatively than towards some physical object.
• Results- Antisocial behaviour/ lie-telling situations

  • The 7 year old children from Canada rated the antisocial behaviour towards a physical object more negatively than towards a person.
• Results- Antisocial behaviour/ lie-telling situations

  • Both Canadian and Chinese children rated lie telling negatively in this condition.
• Results- Antisocial behaviour/ lie-telling situations

  • Overall, negative ratings increased with age, irrespective of culture.
• Results- Antisocial behaviour/ lie-telling situations

  • Chinese 7 year olds rated lie telling less negatively than older children in the physical story condition, whereas Canadian 7 year olds rated lie telling less negatively than older children in the social story condition- the real reason for this is unclear.
• Findings from post experimental discussions

  • A lot of the Chinese children suggested that they gave negative ratings in truth telling scenarios because the child was seen to be 'begging' or 'wanting' praise.