For whom is it worth lying? Prosocial lies in school children

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1590/1982-4327e3019ISSN

Keywords:

lies, school children, culture

Abstract

A prosocial lie is a false statement intended to help and not to harm someone. The present study investigated possible effects of age and culture in 97 Brazilian children’s responses (7 to 11 years of age) in a prosocial lying task, designed for a previous study with Canadian and Chinese children. The task consisted in presenting four dilemmas followed by questions about what children should do: tell the truth or lie to protect the self, a friend or a group? No effect of age was found for the lying scores, but the lying-forfriend scores were significantly higher than the lying-for-self and lying-for-collective scores. This pattern of results suggests that, in contrast to Chinese and Canadian children, Brazilian children find it more worthwhile to tell a lie that protects a friend than a lie that protects self-interests or those of a group.

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Published

2020-08-06

Issue

Section

Developmental Psychology

How to Cite

For whom is it worth lying? Prosocial lies in school children. (2020). Paidéia (Ribeirão Preto), 30, e3019. https://doi.org/10.1590/1982-4327e3019ISSN