Chinese and Canadian Children's Evaluations of Lying and Truth Telling: Similarities and Differences in the Context of Pro- and Antisocial Behaviors

Abstract

The present study compared Chinese and Canadian children's moral evaluations of lie and truth telling in situations involving pro- and antisocial behaviors. Seven-, 9-, and 11-year-old Chinese and canadian children were presented 4 brief stories. Two stories involved a child who intentionally carried out a good deed, and the other2 stories involved a child who intentionally carried out a bad deed. When story characters were questioned by a teacher as to who had committed the deed, they either lied or told the truth. Children were asked to evaluate the story characters' deeds and their verbal statements. Overall, Chinese children rated truth telling less positively and lie telling more positively in prosocial settings than Canadian children, indicating that the emphasis on self-effacement and modesty in Chinese culture overrides Chinese children's evaluations of lying in some situations. Both Chinese and canadian children rated trugh telling positively and lie telling negatively in antisocial situations, reflecting the emphasis in both cultures on the distinction between misdeed and truth/lie telling. The findings of the present study suggest that, in the realm of lying and truth telling, a close relation between sociocultural practices and moral judgment exists. Specific social and cultural norms have an impact on children's developing moral judgments, which in turn, are modified by age and experience in a particular culture.

Social language processing: A framework for analyzing the communication of terrorists and authoritarian regimes

“…The scant research that has examined deception patterns across cultures suggests that there are some culture-specific differences in how deception is perceived, but that there are also some principles of deception that may be universal across cultures (Zhou & Lutterbie, 2005). For example, the collectivism-individualism dynamic can affect whether pro-social lying designed to maintain harmonious relationships is perceived as acceptable or not, with people from collectivist cultures viewing these pro-social lies as more acceptable than people from individualistic cultures (Lee et al, 1997). This is significant in view of the hypothesis that Arab cultures adhere to an ideal of collectivism in social interaction.…”

TALIP Perspectives, Guest Editorial Commentary

“…Comparing Chinese and Canadian children's and adults' evaluations of lying and truth-telling, Fu et al [2001] find that "lie-and truth-telling have inconstant moral values: certain forms of lie-and truth-telling, though valued negatively in one culture, may be evaluated positively in another culture" [Fu et al 2001, page 726]. Lee et al [1997] corroborate that "in the realm of lying and truth-telling, a close relation between sociocultural practices and moral judgment exists". For instance, "the emphasis on modesty and self-effacement leads Chinese children to believe that lying for reason of modesty has positive moral value whereas truth-telling about good deeds is morally undesirable" [Fu et al 2001, page 721].…”

Responding to children's everyday transgressions in Chinese working‐class families

“…Wilson, 1970;Domino & Hannah, 1987;Chiu, 1990;Lee et al, 1997;Fung, 1999;Wang & Leichtman, 2000;Carlsson et al, 2001). The Chinese caregivers' success can perhaps be attributed to their use of guan (governing and caring through education) in responding to children's transgressions.…”

“…Ekblad, 1984;Fung, 1999Fung, , 2001Miller et al, 2001). As a result, Chinese children at a very young age have been found to be more concerned with moral standards and behavioural correctness than their counterparts in other cultures, such as in the US (Wilson, 1970;Domino & Hannah, 1987;Chiu, 1990;Wang & Leichtman, 2000), Canada (Lee et al, 1997), Hungary and Sweden (Carlsson et al, 2001).…”