Brazilian children evaluations of pro-social lying: the influence of social context and the consequences of lying

• Grant number: 16/23947-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: April 01, 2017
• End date: February 28, 2018
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Psychology - Human Development Psychology
• Agreement: Coordination of Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES)
• Principal Investigator: Débora de Hollanda Souza
• Grantee: Daiane Araujo de Arruda
• Host Institution: Centro de Educação e Ciências Humanas (CECH). Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). São Carlos , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The lie that aims at social acceptance is called pro-social lie. It serves to avoid constraints and to preserve privacy and affective bonds. Recent transcultural studies have revealed significant cultural effects in children's pro-social lie, however, there is no record of national research investigating this topic so far. In this direction, the objective of the present Master's project is to investigate the way that Brazilian children of 7, 9 and 11 years old evaluate the choice between lying pro-socially or telling the truth. Therefore, the project proposes a replication of a study done with Chinese children. Two experiments will be conducted, with 50 children from three different age groups (7, 9 and 11 years old) participating in each experiment (N = 100). In both experiments, participants will hear stories, and in half of them, the main character makes a choice between lying pro-socially and telling the truth. As for the other half of the stories, there is a situation involving decision making, where the character will have to choose between lying or telling the truth, without the demand of pro-social behavior. After hearing each story, the children will have to evaluate how much the character's behavior has been good or bad. In experiment 1, participants will hear eight stories, four occurring in a public environment and four occurring in a private setting, and it is possible to analyze whether children take into account the environment or social context to assess the behavior of the characters. In Experiment 2, children will hear four stories, and in two of them, the character's choice can bring an important consequence to the other child in the future, and in the other two stories, the consequence is just for the present moment. According to the results, older Chinese children (11 years old) take more into account the environment when assessing a choice between lying pro-socially and telling the truth, as well as giving more importance to the long-term social consequences than their younger counterparts. It is expected that both variables are also important for the evaluation of Brazilian children about pro-social lying, however, as has been demonstrated in the literature, possible cultural differences may contribute to a proper evaluation pattern in Brazilian children. (AU)