Children’s Evaluations of Tattles, Confessions, Prosocial and Antisocial Lies
In: International Review of PragmaticsSearch for other papers by Victoria Talwar in
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Lie-telling is a false verbal statement made with the intention to deceive another. Lies may be told for selfish reasons or due to prosocial motivations. As a result, the veracity of a statement holds more than just communicative intent but rather represents social intentions. In the current experiment children (6- to 12-years old) viewed 12 vignettes which depicted a protagonist either telling a truth or a lie. The protagonist’s statements either hurt another or themselves (other versus self). Following viewing of each vignette participants provided a moral evaluation of the protagonist’s statement (five-point Likert) and a classification of the statements; as either a truth or lie. Additionally, a novel method of evaluating statements was introduced, whereby children evaluated communicative intent as an act, to be rewarded or punished. Results revealed that both lies and truths were accurately identified, with the exception of altruistic lies (benefits to another) and tattling truths (harms another). Younger children rewarded truthful statements, which harmed or hurt another, significantly more often than older children. Older children ranked lies to help another significantly more favorably than lies to protect the self. Children also rewarded confessions and punished antisocial lies most frequently. Results highlight the notable differences in children’s perceptions of varying forms of honesty and lying.
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| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 2403 | 283 | 32 |
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Children’s Evaluations of Tattles, Confessions, Prosocial and Antisocial Lies
In: International Review of PragmaticsSearch for other papers by Victoria Talwar in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Search for other papers by Shanna Mary Williams in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Search for other papers by Sarah-Jane Renaud in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Search for other papers by Cindy Arruda in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Search for other papers by Christine Saykaly in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Lie-telling is a false verbal statement made with the intention to deceive another. Lies may be told for selfish reasons or due to prosocial motivations. As a result, the veracity of a statement holds more than just communicative intent but rather represents social intentions. In the current experiment children (6- to 12-years old) viewed 12 vignettes which depicted a protagonist either telling a truth or a lie. The protagonist’s statements either hurt another or themselves (other versus self). Following viewing of each vignette participants provided a moral evaluation of the protagonist’s statement (five-point Likert) and a classification of the statements; as either a truth or lie. Additionally, a novel method of evaluating statements was introduced, whereby children evaluated communicative intent as an act, to be rewarded or punished. Results revealed that both lies and truths were accurately identified, with the exception of altruistic lies (benefits to another) and tattling truths (harms another). Younger children rewarded truthful statements, which harmed or hurt another, significantly more often than older children. Older children ranked lies to help another significantly more favorably than lies to protect the self. Children also rewarded confessions and punished antisocial lies most frequently. Results highlight the notable differences in children’s perceptions of varying forms of honesty and lying.
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 2403 | 283 | 32 |
| Full Text Views | 372 | 16 | 1 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 244 | 34 | 3 |
