Moral evaluations of children’s truths and lies in a prosocial context: The role of reputation

Abstract

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). In Study 1, children were read a series of vignettes in which a child, described as being smart, kind, or clean (with clean serving as the irrelevant control reputation), told either the blunt truth or a prosocial lie that varied in content (opinions or facts). In Study 2, parents evaluated the same vignettes and reputations as in Study 1 with the addition of a troublemaker reputation. The reputation of the child protagonist significantly influenced both children’s and parents’ moral evaluations. Children rated the kind child’s lies more positively, and parents rated the smart child’s truths and lies less positively, than those of the clean (control) child when told about opinions. No differences were noted in the facts content condition. Findings suggest that a child’s perceived reputation may influence both children’s and adults’ moral interpretations of the child’s honesty behaviors.