Moral Judgment of Lying Aim: To investigate and cross- Reliability:
Moral decisions about ‘naughty’ culturally test culture on children’s + Standardised procedure so high internal
behaviour and if that is different moral evaluations of lying and truth reliability.
between truth and lie telling. telling by comparing individualistic + Quasi experiment so IVs were not manipulated
Chinese children are taught and collectivist ratings. so lacks control as extraneous variables may
honesty and modesty are 1) Prosocial had cultural have affected children’s moral judgment.
important and that they have to differences. +Used quantitative data, which is objective so
be truthful and report misdeeds 2) Difference increase with age. makes it easier to interpret child’s answers,
and lie when they do something Sample: increasing reliability as it is a form of control.
IV’s Method 108 Canadian children, m +f, Validity:
Type of stories Lab aged 7,9 and 11 from a smaller + High population validity as used a large sample
(Physical or Independent province known for industry. and from 2 different cultures so is a good
Social) 120 Chinese children, equal representation of the target population.
Type of stories Lab gender split, aged 7,9 and 11 -High chance of demand characteristics as ppts
(Pro or Repeated from a main cultural and
antisocial) might say what they should say not what they
educational city in China. think.
Age groups Quasi
(7, 9 and 11) Cross- +Tested a range of variables.
section 4 stories : -Lacks population validity as all children were
Culture Quasi -Prosocial + lie from urban areas and not from rural, so we don’t
(Chinese or Cross- -Prosocial + truth Lee et know if moral judgement can be applied to
Canadian) cultural -Antisocial + lie al children in those areas.
DV = Rating given to story characters -Antisocial + truth
deeds and what character said using 7- Ethics:
Procedure: Findings: Research does not comment on ethical
-Randomly assigned to -No significant differences in gender. consideration, but we can assume all ppts
stories and were tested -Prosocial + truth = No cultural differences and parents gave informed consent, as they were
individually and rating sig interaction with age as Chinese became less only children.
scale was explained. positive. We can also assume ppts were debriefed to
-Each child was read the 4 -Prosocial + lie = Sig interaction with age as check for psychological harm or distress caused
stories. Canada rated negatively, which contrasted with from asking the questions.
-Deed section was read China. Finally we can also assume that the children had
and asked is the child good -Antisocial + truth = No difference cross- the right to withdraw and stop answer questions
or naughty. culturally and all rated stories positively. on the moral dilemmas.
-Child responded verbally, -Antisocial + lie = Sig differences between Ethnocentrism:
non-verbally or both. social and physical with 7-year-olds. Sig +Isn’t ethnocentric as Lee looked at both
-Second section was read Conclusions: collectivist and individualistic cultures.
and asked was how the -Moral development has cross-cultural -Is ethnocentric as he didn’t look at how the 2
child responded to the variation. cultures may overlap and that differences in
teacher good or bad. -Children develop moral judgement from social moral judgements may be due to environment
norms. not cultural beliefs.
Moral decisions about ‘naughty’ culturally test culture on children’s + Standardised procedure so high internal
behaviour and if that is different moral evaluations of lying and truth reliability.
between truth and lie telling. telling by comparing individualistic + Quasi experiment so IVs were not manipulated
Chinese children are taught and collectivist ratings. so lacks control as extraneous variables may
honesty and modesty are 1) Prosocial had cultural have affected children’s moral judgment.
important and that they have to differences. +Used quantitative data, which is objective so
be truthful and report misdeeds 2) Difference increase with age. makes it easier to interpret child’s answers,
and lie when they do something Sample: increasing reliability as it is a form of control.
IV’s Method 108 Canadian children, m +f, Validity:
Type of stories Lab aged 7,9 and 11 from a smaller + High population validity as used a large sample
(Physical or Independent province known for industry. and from 2 different cultures so is a good
Social) 120 Chinese children, equal representation of the target population.
Type of stories Lab gender split, aged 7,9 and 11 -High chance of demand characteristics as ppts
(Pro or Repeated from a main cultural and
antisocial) might say what they should say not what they
educational city in China. think.
Age groups Quasi
(7, 9 and 11) Cross- +Tested a range of variables.
section 4 stories : -Lacks population validity as all children were
Culture Quasi -Prosocial + lie from urban areas and not from rural, so we don’t
(Chinese or Cross- -Prosocial + truth Lee et know if moral judgement can be applied to
Canadian) cultural -Antisocial + lie al children in those areas.
DV = Rating given to story characters -Antisocial + truth
deeds and what character said using 7- Ethics:
Procedure: Findings: Research does not comment on ethical
-Randomly assigned to -No significant differences in gender. consideration, but we can assume all ppts
stories and were tested -Prosocial + truth = No cultural differences and parents gave informed consent, as they were
individually and rating sig interaction with age as Chinese became less only children.
scale was explained. positive. We can also assume ppts were debriefed to
-Each child was read the 4 -Prosocial + lie = Sig interaction with age as check for psychological harm or distress caused
stories. Canada rated negatively, which contrasted with from asking the questions.
-Deed section was read China. Finally we can also assume that the children had
and asked is the child good -Antisocial + truth = No difference cross- the right to withdraw and stop answer questions
or naughty. culturally and all rated stories positively. on the moral dilemmas.
-Child responded verbally, -Antisocial + lie = Sig differences between Ethnocentrism:
non-verbally or both. social and physical with 7-year-olds. Sig +Isn’t ethnocentric as Lee looked at both
-Second section was read Conclusions: collectivist and individualistic cultures.
and asked was how the -Moral development has cross-cultural -Is ethnocentric as he didn’t look at how the 2
child responded to the variation. cultures may overlap and that differences in
teacher good or bad. -Children develop moral judgement from social moral judgements may be due to environment
norms. not cultural beliefs.
