Moral evaluations of children's truths and lies in prosocial contexts: The role of reputation

Abstract

Moral evaluations of truths and lies have been found to vary based on the intention of the speaker (to help or to harm). One factor that may influence the perceived intention of the speaker is their reputation. Given that honesty is a key factor for building and maintaining relationships, it is important to understand whether a child’s reputation influences how other children and parents perceive their truth- and lie-telling behaviours. The current investigation examined the influence of a child’s reputation on 7- to 12-year-olds’ (Study 1; N = 146) and parents’ (Study 2; N = 198) moral evaluations of the child’s blunt truths (i.e., truths told despite possible hurt feelings) and prosocial lies (i.e., lies told to protect another’s feelings). Children were read aloud a series of vignettes in which a child protagonist described as smart, kind, or clean (control) either told the blunt truth or a prosocial lie to their friend. Parents read the same vignettes in text format with the addition of a troublemaker reputation condition. The reputation of the child protagonist significantly influenced both children’s and parents’ moral evaluations. Children rated the kind child’s lies more positively than those of the smart and control children, and parents rated the smart child’s truths and lies less positively than those of the kind and control children in certain contexts. Moreover, developmental differences in the evaluation of truths and lies were found such that older children rated both statements more positively than younger children, suggesting that with age, children begin to understand that telling both truths and lies to benefit others has positive value. Children showed increasingly adult-like complexity in their inferences about a truth- or lie-teller’s intentions as well as their anticipatory reactions towards truths and lies in the present study, demonstrating that children have a nuanced understanding of blunt truth- and prosocial lie-telling that further improves with age.