Lee

Question 1

Define culture.

Answer 1

A human made part of the environment that includes the way people do things (like make buildings or music) as well as beliefs, values and norms.

Question 2

Define individualistic culture.

Answer 2

People’s identities are defined by personal choices and achievements; self-reliance and the rights of individuals to ‘do their own thing’ are emphasised.

Question 3

Define collectivist culture.

Answer 3

People’s identities are defined by the groups that see themselves as a part of (e.g. the extended families, tribe or nation); group goals take priority over individual goals, and maintaining group harmony is important.

Question 4

What is the background to Lee’s study?

Answer 4

• Hofstede proposed individualism-collectivism as one dimension upon which cultures can be seen to vary.
• Cultures are not completely collectivist or completely individualistic but in general there is a relative emphasis in the West towards individualism and in the East towards collectivism.

Question 5

What was the aim in Lee’s study?

Answer 5

• To find out if the culture a child grows up in (individualistic or collectivist) affects their views about truth-telling and lying.
• To find out if the views of children about truth-telling and lying change as they get older.

Question 6

What was the research method in Lee’s study?

Answer 6

• Quasi experiment
• Both IVs (age and culture) were naturally occurring.

Question 7

What was the experimental design in Lee’s study?

Answer 7

• Independent measures
• Different children were used in each condition.

Question 8

What was the sample in Lee’s study?

Answer 8

• 120 children from Hangzouh, China.
• 108 children from Fredericton, Canada.
• Aged 7,9 and 11 years old.
• Roughly 40 children in each category.
• Relatively equal gender split.

Question 9

What were the independent variables in Lee’s study?

Answer 9

• Ethnicity of child (Chinese / Canadian)
• Age of child (7, 9 or 11 years old)
• Type of story (Social or physical)
• Setting (Pro-social or antisocial)

Question 10

What was the dependant variable in Lee’s study?

Answer 10

Ratings on what the character did and what they said from -3 (very very naughty) to +3 (very very good).

Question 11

What was the procedure in Lee’s study?

Answer 11

• Each child had four stories read to them which centred around fictional children behaving in different ways.
• For half of the children, their stories were ‘social’ where the behaviour had an impact directly on another child. For the other half of the children their four stories were ‘physical’ where the behaviour impacted the environment.
• The four stories were a pro-social truth, a pro-social lie, an antisocial truth and an antisocial lie.
• For each story the children were asked:
  
  • Is what xxx did good or naughty?
  • Is what xxx said to their teacher (about what they had done) good or naughty?
• The children were asked to respond to these questions using a 7 point scale.

Question 12

What was the rating scale used by the children in Lee’s study?

Answer 12

. ☆☆☆ ☆☆ ☆ . X XX XXX
Very, very good Very good Good Neither Naughty Very naughty Very, very naughty

Question 13

What were the results for the pro-social truth telling in Lee’s study?

Answer 13

Children in collectivist China viewed this less positively as they got older seeing this as ‘begging for’ praise.

Question 14

What were the results for the pro-social lie telling in Lee’s study?

Answer 14

Children in collectivist China viewed this more positively as they got older saying that ‘one should not leave one’s name after doing a good deed’.

Question 15

What were the results for the anti-social truth telling in Lee’s study?

Answer 15

Children from both collectivist China and individualistic Canada rated this very positively.

Question 16

What were the results for the anti-social lie telling in Lee’s study?

Answer 16

Children from both collectivist China and individualistic Canada rated this negatively and in both cultures ratings became more negative as children got older.

Question 17

How was quantitative data collected in Lee’s study?

Answer 17

The 7-point rating scale which had numerical values attached (-3 to +3) which could then be analysed.

Question 18

How was qualitative data collected in Lee’s study?

Answer 18

From the reasons why the children chose the options they did to see if there were any differences in the actual moral thinking between the cultures.

Question 19

What was the conclusion from Lee’s study?

Answer 19

Lee concluded that there are differences in moral development between different cultures which is not just due to cognitive development (i.e. children’s views of right and wrong change as they get older but also due to social and cultural rules).