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level: Lee research (D)

Questions and Answers List

level questions: Lee research (D)

QuestionAnswer
Background and aim- Testing the effects of culture on children’s moral evaluations of lying and truth telling - Comparing the moral judgements of Canadian + Chinese children - Slight alternative to Kohlberg's stage theory
Sample- 120 Chinese children, equal gender split - 108 Canadian children, 58 boys, 50 girls - All 7-11 years old
Type of method and design Lee used- Laboratory + quasi experiment and independent measures design
The Independent variables- Whether the participant heard the social or physical story - Whether the participant heard a pro-social or anti-social story - The age + ethnicity of the children
The dependent variables- The rating given to the character’s deed - The rating given to what the character said
Data- Quantitive data
Procedure- Children randomly allocated to either the social or physical condition - Seen individually - Rating scale was explained to them - Each child listened to all four social or physical stories - Asked to rate their behaviour
Ratings of the deeds and verbal statements were on a 7-point rating chart- Very, very good 3 red stars - Very good 2 red stars - Good 1 red star - Neither good nor naughty blue circle - Naughty 1 black cross - Very naughty 2 black crosses - Very, very naughty 3 black crosses
Pro-social Truth-telling- Doing a good deed and admitting to doing it
Pro-social Lie-telling- Doing a good deed but saying that they didn't do it
Anti-social Truth-telling- Doing a bad deed but admitting to doing it
Anti-social Lie-telling- Doing a bad deed and lying about doing it
Results: Pro-social Truth-Telling Situations- Children from both cultures rated the prosocial behaviours similarly - Canadian children at each age gave similar ratings to truth telling - Chinese children’s ratings became less positive as age increased
Results: Pro-social Lie-Telling Situations- Children from both cultures rated lie telling in prosocial situations negatively, but as age increased their ratings became less negative
Results: Anti-social Truth-Telling Situations- Children from both cultures rated the antisocial truth-telling situations similarly + very positively
Results: Anti-social Lie-Telling Situations- Children from both cultures rated lie telling in antisocial situations negatively - Negative ratings increased with age
Conclusions- All children showed similar evaluations - Moral development is affected by the culture - Chinese children rated truth telling in prosocial situations less positively + lie-telling less negatively than Canadian children
Ethnocentrism- Cross-cultural study - Ethnocentric bias as Canada is not representative of all western cultures and China is not representative of non-Western cultures
Reliability- Standardised - replicable - Giving children four stories allowed Lee to see whether consistent responses are given - If so results can be considered to be reliable
ValidityHigh validity due to: - Counterbalancing to reduce order effects - Matching age and gender and randomly allocating participants to groups
Ethical guidelines upheld- Consent given by parents - Right to withdraw - Protection from harm
Freewill vs determinism (Determinism)- Stages of moral development are invariant + universal
Free will vs determinism (Freewill)- However we do have the freewill to over-ride our morality and do things that are immoral
Link to reductionism/holism- Takes a holistic approach by acknowledging the influence of society on our behaviour and the social cognitions that develop as a result of this
Two types of cultures- Individualistic - Collective
Individualistic cultures- Societies which emphasise the individual, their rights, attitudes and needs
Collectivist cultures- Societies which emphasise the group, its decisions and needs and the duties of the individual to that group
How does the contemporary study of improve our understanding of the key theme?- L disagrees with K stages of moral development - Shows cultural differences change the context of the thinking + fundamental moral rules - e.g. ‘you must not tell lies’ becomes ‘you should tell lies in certain circumstances’ in some cultures - Said not just down to culture but individual, depends on how you go through the stages of development
How does the contemporary study improve our understanding of individual, social and cultural diversity? INDIVIDUAL DIVERSITY- L able to study females + males, explains how both genders develop morally, based on cultural factors - Improvement to the classic study as Kohlberg only studied males
How does the contemporary study improve our understanding of individual, social and cultural diversity? CULTURAL DIVERSITY- L reinforced Ks idea that morality is developed over time - As they found both Canadian + Chinese children shifted their attitudes to truth-telling as they got older - L showed moral dev. not purely down to age + progression, also due to cultural factors