Verbalizing a commitment reduces cheating in young children

Abstract

Children are frequently given rules and permissions that contrast their self‐interest, resulting in cheating behavior. The present study examined whether a verbalized commitment without the word ‘promise’ could reduce cheating rates in young children and whether this technique would be significantly more effective than a simple affirmation to a request not to cheat. Ninety‐nine 3‐to‐5‐year‐olds were randomly assigned to one of three obligation conditions: control, simple ‘okay’, or a verbalized commitment condition. All children played a guessing game in which the experimenter left the room on the final trial and children were instructed not to peek at the toy in the experimenter's absence. Children were asked to agree to the request not to peek (simple ‘okay’ condition), to verbally state that they would not peek (verbalized commitment condition), or were just instructed not to peek (control condition). The verbalized commitment condition significantly reduced cheating rates compared to the other conditions, regardless of age. Furthermore, among those who cheated, children in the verbalized commitment condition took significantly longer to peek compared to the other conditions. Results suggest that a verbal commitment without the word ‘promise’ can be an effective method to reduce young children's cheating behavior.

The effects of promising to tell the truth, the putative confession, and recall and recognition questions on maltreated and non-maltreated children’s disclosure of a minor transgression

“…It is possible that asking the child to verbalize “I promise that I will tell the truth” would also help. Evans, O’Connor, and Lee (in press) found that 3- and 5-year-olds were less likely to peek at a toy if they explicitly stated “I will not turn around and peek at the toy” than if they merely agreed not to do so. However, Heyman and colleagues (2015), who found that 4-year-olds were not influenced by a promise, had children state “I promise I will not peek at the card.” Overall, given theoretical interest in understanding when and why the promise’s effectiveness varies with age, continued research is warranted.…”

Using environmental nudges to reduce academic cheating in young children

“…We predetermined a sample size of 60 participants per condition by conducting a priori power analyses. Based on existing studies (e.g., Evans et al., 2018; Fu et al., 2016; Heyman et al., 2015 ), we estimated a baseline cheating rate of 75% for the control condition and a baseline cheating rate of 50% for each experimental condition. We found that we needed a minimum of 58 participants per condition to achieve a condition effect with a power of 0.80, an alpha at 0.05, and an enrolment ratio of 1.…”

“…Although developmental research on dishonest behavior dates back almost a century (e.g., Hartshorne & May, 1928), only in the last two decades has the field seen sustained and in‐depth investigations (Lee, 2013). This more recent work has focused on not only personal and psychological factors that affect the development of dishonesty, but also social and situational ones (e.g., Carlson et al., 1998; Engarhos et al., 2019; Evans et al., 2018; Fu et al., 2016; Heyman et al., 2015; Lee et al., 2014; Ma et al., 2018; Polak & Harris, 1999; Zhao et al., 2017, 2018, 2019). Despite this extensive body of research, little is known about the impact of the physical environment on dishonest behavior.…”

“…Overt nudges can also influence children's honesty (Evans et al., 2018; Fu et al., 2016; Heyman et al., 2015; Lee et al., 2014; Ma et al., 2018 ). For example, 3‐ to 7‐year‐olds are less likely to lie to cover up their transgressions after hearing stories about the benefits of truth‐telling (Lee et al., 2014), and 5‐year‐olds are less likely to cheat after being told they have a reputation for being a good kid (Fu et al., 2016).…”

Keeping them honest: Promises reduce cheating in adolescents

“…Similarly, 6‐ to 7‐year‐old North American children who had promised to tell the truth revealed more often that they had played with a forbidden toy (Lyon & Dorado, 2008). Promises to tell the truth increase their effectiveness between 4 to 9 years of age for North American children (Quas et al, 2018) and, generally, remain effective in adolescence (Evans et al, 2018) and adulthood (Kataria & Winter, 2013).…”