TY - JOUR
T1 - Lying and Truthfulness
T2 - Children's Definitions, Standards, and Evaluative Reactions
AU - Bussey, Kay
PY - 1992
Y1 - 1992
N2 - Preschool (M= 4.9 years), second‐ (M= 7.8 years), and fifth‐ (M= 11.0 years) grade children's definitions of, moral standards for, and internal evaluative reactions to both lies and truthful statements were investigated. The influence of 4 factors on these judgments was also examined: the falsity of the statement, the content of the statement, whether or not the statement was believed, and whether or not the statement resulted in punishment. Results revealed that while the older children identified almost all statements correctly, preschoolers correctly identified about 70% of lies and truthful statements. Lies were rated as worse than truthful statements by all age groups; however, only the second and fifth graders ascribed feelings of pride to story characters after truthfulness. Implications of these findings for children's moral development are discussed.
AB - Preschool (M= 4.9 years), second‐ (M= 7.8 years), and fifth‐ (M= 11.0 years) grade children's definitions of, moral standards for, and internal evaluative reactions to both lies and truthful statements were investigated. The influence of 4 factors on these judgments was also examined: the falsity of the statement, the content of the statement, whether or not the statement was believed, and whether or not the statement resulted in punishment. Results revealed that while the older children identified almost all statements correctly, preschoolers correctly identified about 70% of lies and truthful statements. Lies were rated as worse than truthful statements by all age groups; however, only the second and fifth graders ascribed feelings of pride to story characters after truthfulness. Implications of these findings for children's moral development are discussed.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84989483213&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1111/j.1467-8624.1992.tb03601.x
DO - 10.1111/j.1467-8624.1992.tb03601.x
M3 - Article
VL - 63
SP - 129
EP - 137
JO - Child Development
JF - Child Development
SN - 0009-3920
IS - 1
ER -