The Effects Of Different Model Presence On Children's Lie-telling Behavior

Most Lie-telling (black-lie) is immoral and not allowed by society, though, sometimes, it (white-lie) is adaptive. It is needed to change children's lie-telling behavior and improve truth-telling behavior, because experiments have indicated that children as young as 5 years understand the definition of lie and know it is a bad thing, but they still lie tactically under some situations.The present research examined the effects of model presence, which were viewed directly (live modeling) or indirectly (symbolic modeling) on children's lie-telling behavior.Results showed that:1. Most 5-year-olds tell lies under "resistance to temptation" situation, and there is no difference between boys and girls.2. Symbolic modeling, which is present by stories and pictures, can't affect children's lie-telling behavior efficiently.3. Symbolic modeling and children's self-confess to honesty can't affect children's lie-telling behavior efficiently, either.4. Live modeling, which takes place in children's life, can affect children's lie-telling behavior efficiently, more than half children confess peek behavior to subject.