Stories that motivate children to be honest
The findings suggest that stories such as 鈥淭he Boy Who Cried Wolf鈥� and 鈥淧inocchio鈥� may not be effective cautionary tales when it comes to inspiring honest behaviour in children.
Stories have long been employed to instill moral and cultural values in young children, but there is little research exploring the effectiveness of such stories.
鈥淎s parents of young children, we wanted to know how effective the stories actually are in promoting honesty,鈥� says Victoria Talwar of 平特五不中鈥檚 Dept of Educational Psychology. 鈥淚s it 鈥榠n one ear, out the other,鈥� or do children listen and take the messages to heart?鈥�
鈥淲e should not take it for granted that classic moral stories will automatically promote moral behaviours,鈥� says Kang Lee of the Dr. Eric Jackman Institute of Child Study at the University of Toronto.
To find out which stories were most effective in motivating children to be honest, Lee, Talwar, and colleagues conducted an experiment with 268 children ages 3 to 7.听 Each child played a game that involved guessing the identity of a toy based on the sound it made. In the middle of the game, the experimenter left the room for a minute to grab a book, instructing the child not to peek at a toy that was left on the table. For most children, this temptation was too hard to resist.听
When the experimenter returned, she read the child a story, either 鈥淭he Tortoise or the Hare,鈥� 鈥淭he Boy Who Cried Wolf,鈥� 鈥淧inocchio,鈥� or 鈥淕eorge Washington and the Cherry Tree.鈥澨� Afterward, the experimenter asked the child to tell the truth about whether he or she peeked at the toy.
Contrary to the researchers鈥� expectations the stories which associate lying with negative consequences, such as public humiliation and even death, e.g. 鈥淧inocchio鈥� and 鈥淭he Boy Who Cried Wolf鈥� were no more effective at promoting honest behaviour than a fable unrelated to honesty, in this case 鈥淭he Tortoise and the Hare.鈥�
Only the story in which a young George Washington is praised by his father for honestly admitting to having cut down the latter鈥檚 favourite cherry tree seemed to inspire the kids to admit to peeking. The children who heard the apocryphal tale in which the future first president is praised by his father for confessing his transgression were three times more likely to tell the truth than their peers who heard other stories. (The father鈥檚 response to his son鈥檚 confession, for those who do not know the tale, is to say 鈥淢y son, that you should not be afraid to tell the truth is more to me than a thousand trees! Yes - though they were blossomed with silver and had leaves of the purest gold!'')
An additional experiment indicated that the positive focus of the George Washington story was responsible for kids鈥� honest behaviour. When the researchers changed the ending so that it took a negative turn, children who heard the story were no longer more likely to admit to peeking.
Talwar believes that the original story about George Washington is effective because it demonstrates 鈥渢he positive consequences of being honest by giving the message of what the desired behaviour is, as well as demonstrating the behaviour itself.鈥�
鈥淥ur study shows that to promote moral behaviour such as honesty, emphasizing the positive outcomes of honesty rather than the negative consequences of dishonesty is the key,鈥� adds Lee. 鈥淭his may apply to other moral behaviours as well.鈥�
Lee, Talwar, and colleagues caution that more research is necessary to determine whether moral stories influence kids鈥� behaviour long-term.听
Still, they have been quick to take advantage of the findings. Talwar reports a shift in her own parenting practices: 鈥淚t really seems to work. I use this now with my child.鈥�听
In addition to Lee and Talwar, co-authors include Anjanie McCarthy and Ilana Ross of the University of Toronto, Angela Evans of Brock University, and Cindy Arruda of 平特五不中.
This research was supported by grants from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada to K. Lee and V. Talwar.
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