Chinese and Canadian Adults’ Categorization and Evaluation of Lie- and Truth-Telling about Prosocial and Antisocial Behaviors

Fu, Guosheng; Lee, Kang; Cameron, Catherine Ann; Xu, Fu-Liu

doi:10.1177/0022022101032006005

Cited by 72 publications

(84 citation statements)

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“…One of the major differences between the present study and those two studies is the age of participants. The oldest age group in the present study was 11 years, whereas participants in the Lee and Ross (1997) study were adolescents and young adults, and those of Fu et al (2001) were adults. It is possible that further socialization is needed for individuals eventually to develop the perspective that a general communicative intention should play a defining role in determining what sort of untruthful statement might be categorized as a lie.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 49%

Cross-cultural differences in children's choices, categorizations, and evaluations of truths and lies.

Cameron

et al. 2007

Developmental Psychology

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This study examined cross-cultural differences and similarities in children's moral understanding of individual-or collective-oriented lies and truths. Seven-, 9-, and 11-year-old Canadian and Chinese children were read stories about story characters facing moral dilemmas about whether to lie or tell the truth to help a group but harm an individual or vice versa. Participants chose to lie or to tell the truth as if they were the character (Experiments 1 and 2) and categorized and evaluated the story characters' truthful and untruthful statements (Experiments 3 and 4). Most children in both cultures labeled lies as lies and truths as truths. The major cultural differences lay in choices and moral evaluations. Chinese children chose lying to help a collective but harm an individual, and they rated it less negatively than lying with opposite consequences. Chinese children rated truth telling to help an individual but harm a group less positively than the alternative. Canadian children did the opposite. These findings suggest that cross-cultural differences in emphasis on groups versus individuals affect children's choices and moral judgments about truth and deception.Keywords cross-cultural; deception; individualism; collectivism; moral development Children around the world are socialized to adhere to the moral and social value systems of their culture and to do what is seen as right and not what is considered wrong. In many cases, the values of a culture are consistent with each other. They promote a coherent set of morally and socially acceptable behaviors. However, it is not unusual that in some situations certain cultural values collide with each other, and in such a circumstance, a moral-social dilemma Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Kang Lee, Institute of Child Study, University of Toronto, 45 Walmer Road, Toronto, Ontario M5R 2X2, Canada, or to Genyue Fu, School of Education, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua, Zhejiang, People's Republic of China. E-mail: kang.lee@utoronto.ca or fugy@zjnu.cn. NIH Public Access NIH-PA Author ManuscriptNIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author Manuscript might arise. One such dilemma is whether to tell a lie that may help a group or an individual or to speak the truth that might have the opposite effect.The question of what a lie is and whether it is wrong to lie has been a subject of intense debate among Western philosophers and theologians throughout history. There are numerous schools of thought on the issue that generally fall on a continuum. At one extreme, philosophers such as St. Augustine (1952), Kant (1949), andBok (1978) assumed that lying necessarily involves a speaker who knowingly makes a false statement with the intent to deceive. As long as a statement fits this description, it is a lie regardless of the context in which it is uttered. Also, these theorists held a deontological view of the moral implication of lying: Lying is intrinsically wrong and has a constant disvalue regardless of context. Lies must under all but the mo...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 49%

Cross-cultural differences in children's choices, categorizations, and evaluations of truths and lies.

Cameron

et al. 2007

Developmental Psychology

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133

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“…One common type of lie involves individuals who after having done something socially undesirable (e.g., drawing pictures in a book from a library), intentionally make a false statement to deceive the lie-recipient to conceal the transgression (henceforth referred to as the bad-act lie). Such lies are eschewed universally and thus are typically judged morally wrong whereas telling the truth to confess one’s own transgression (henceforth referred to as the bad-act truth) are typically judged morally right in almost all cultures (Fu et al, 2007; Fu et al, 2008; Fu et al, 2001; Lee et al, 1997; Lee et al, 2001; Xu et al, 2010). …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neural correlates of evaluations of lying and truth-telling in different social contexts

Loke

et al. 2011

Brain Research

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The present study examined the neural correlates of evaluations of both lying and truth-telling in different social contexts using fMRI methodology. The results demonstrated the differentiation between lying and truth-telling and between different types of lying in a network of brain regions. These regions included bilateral superior frontal gyrus (SFG), bilateral inferior parietal lobule (IPL), bilateral cuneus, right lingual gyrus (LG), right precuneus, and left postcentral gyrus (PoCG). Additionally, we found that activations in the right LG, the left IPL and the left PoCG were correlated with the off-line evaluations of truthful and untruthful communications about good and bad acts in different social contexts. These results suggest that the judgments of lying and truth-telling involving a third party might not be emotion-arousing but involve rational processing. This study is among the first to demonstrate that evaluations of truthful and untruthful communications in different social contexts can be differentiated in terms of brain BOLD (blood-oxygen-level dependent) activities.

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“…Cross-cultural developmental psychology studies suggest that cultures may categorize untruthful statements differently depending on specific social contexts. Comparing Chinese and Canadian children's and adults' evaluations of lying and truth-telling, Fu et al [2001] find that "lie-and truth-telling have inconstant moral values: certain forms of lie-and truth-telling, though valued negatively in one culture, may be evaluated positively in another culture" [Fu et al 2001, page 726]. Lee et al [1997] corroborate that "in the realm of lying and truth-telling, a close relation between sociocultural practices and moral judgment exists".…”

Section: Philosophical Roots Of Cultural Differences and Associated Cmentioning

confidence: 99%

TALIP Perspectives, Guest Editorial Commentary

Rubin

2014

ACM Transactions on Asian Language Information Processing

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In hopes of sparking a discussion, I argue for much needed research on automated deception detection in Asian languages. The task of discerning truthful texts from deceptive ones is challenging, but a logical sequel to opinion mining. I suggest that applied computational linguists pursue broader interdisciplinary research on cultural differences and pragmatic use of language in Asian cultures, before turning to detection methods based on a primarily Western (English-centric) worldview. Deception is fundamentally human, but how do various cultures interpret and judge deceptive behavior? ACM Reference Format:Rubin, V. L. 2014. Pragmatic and cultural considerations for deception detection in Asian languages.

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Chinese and Canadian Adults’ Categorization and Evaluation of Lie- and Truth-Telling about Prosocial and Antisocial Behaviors

Cited by 72 publications

References 2 publications

Cross-cultural differences in children's choices, categorizations, and evaluations of truths and lies.

Cross-cultural differences in children's choices, categorizations, and evaluations of truths and lies.

Neural correlates of evaluations of lying and truth-telling in different social contexts

TALIP Perspectives, Guest Editorial Commentary

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