Children’s White Lies: Sociocultural Influences
White lies are distinguished from selfish lies by their underlying intention that generally aims to not harm the individual, but to protect with good intentions. What is considered good or bad intentions are dictated by culture and society, thus learning the appropriate contexts for a white lie depends on sociocultural influences. Looking at Warneken and Orlins’ experiment of children and white lies, the sociocultural theories of development is reflected in the findings.
Experiment on Children’s White Lies
Warneken and Orlins (2015) were interested in children’s understanding of the consequences of their false statements, thus conducted a study investigating whether children realize that they …show more content…
It explores how culture and society influence cognition and development, as well as how it shapes one’s thinking. Its main ideas firstly points out that cognitive development ensues in social interaction, with children learning from the social context as well as from their interaction with the people and environment around them. Secondly, psychological functioning is mediated by language and cultural tools, which assist children in thinking and communicating. Thirdly, children’s opportunities for learning are influenced by cultural norms and other people as a culture or family’s values dictate which aspects of cognition should be prioritized to be developed. Lastly, particular cognitive capabilities are required for social and cultural learning since to acquire knowledge from their interaction with their peers, children would have to be capable of understanding or seeing another person’s point of …show more content…
Though the older children were likely to tell a white lie in the Sad condition based on their own decision, children from all age groups were even more likely to tell a white lie in both Sad and Neutral conditions after seeing the model tell a white lie. As for children of the 5-year-old group, who were unable to distinguish the experimental conditions, the process of emulation, which is learning by focusing on the end result without acknowledging the link of the behaviour and the intention, is reflect as they blindly follow and imitate the model without comprehending the relation of the action and the goal (Siegler & Alibali, 2005). Moreover, children used the modelling act of the adult as a reference for their learning and behaviour in the social context that they were
White lies are distinguished from selfish lies by their underlying intention that generally aims to not harm the individual, but to protect with good intentions. What is considered good or bad intentions are dictated by culture and society, thus learning the appropriate contexts for a white lie depends on sociocultural influences. Looking at Warneken and Orlins’ experiment of children and white lies, the sociocultural theories of development is reflected in the findings.
Experiment on Children’s White Lies
Warneken and Orlins (2015) were interested in children’s understanding of the consequences of their false statements, thus conducted a study investigating whether children realize that they …show more content…
It explores how culture and society influence cognition and development, as well as how it shapes one’s thinking. Its main ideas firstly points out that cognitive development ensues in social interaction, with children learning from the social context as well as from their interaction with the people and environment around them. Secondly, psychological functioning is mediated by language and cultural tools, which assist children in thinking and communicating. Thirdly, children’s opportunities for learning are influenced by cultural norms and other people as a culture or family’s values dictate which aspects of cognition should be prioritized to be developed. Lastly, particular cognitive capabilities are required for social and cultural learning since to acquire knowledge from their interaction with their peers, children would have to be capable of understanding or seeing another person’s point of …show more content…
Though the older children were likely to tell a white lie in the Sad condition based on their own decision, children from all age groups were even more likely to tell a white lie in both Sad and Neutral conditions after seeing the model tell a white lie. As for children of the 5-year-old group, who were unable to distinguish the experimental conditions, the process of emulation, which is learning by focusing on the end result without acknowledging the link of the behaviour and the intention, is reflect as they blindly follow and imitate the model without comprehending the relation of the action and the goal (Siegler & Alibali, 2005). Moreover, children used the modelling act of the adult as a reference for their learning and behaviour in the social context that they were