{"title":"Telling young children an adult's emotional reactions to their future honest or dishonest behavior causes them to cheat less.","authors":"Li Zhao, Weihao Yan, Paul L Harris, Kang Lee","doi":"10.1037/dev0001936","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The current research examined whether telling young children about an adult's emotional reactions to their future honesty or dishonesty influences their cheating. In five preregistered studies, children aged 3-6 years participated in a challenging test, purportedly to assess their knowledge but actually to measure their honesty (<i>N</i> = 480; 240 boys; all middle-class Han Chinese). Telling 5- to 6-year-olds about a familiar adult's negative emotional reactions to their future dishonesty significantly reduced subsequent cheating, regardless of whether the adult was their homeroom teacher or their mother. Telling 3- to 4-year-olds about their mother's positive reactions to honesty or her negative reactions to dishonesty also reduced cheating. Thus, providing information about a familiar adult's emotional reactions can effectively promote honest behavior among young children. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).</p>","PeriodicalId":48464,"journal":{"name":"Developmental Psychology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.1000,"publicationDate":"2025-03-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Developmental Psychology","FirstCategoryId":"102","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0001936","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"PSYCHOLOGY, DEVELOPMENTAL","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
The current research examined whether telling young children about an adult's emotional reactions to their future honesty or dishonesty influences their cheating. In five preregistered studies, children aged 3-6 years participated in a challenging test, purportedly to assess their knowledge but actually to measure their honesty (N = 480; 240 boys; all middle-class Han Chinese). Telling 5- to 6-year-olds about a familiar adult's negative emotional reactions to their future dishonesty significantly reduced subsequent cheating, regardless of whether the adult was their homeroom teacher or their mother. Telling 3- to 4-year-olds about their mother's positive reactions to honesty or her negative reactions to dishonesty also reduced cheating. Thus, providing information about a familiar adult's emotional reactions can effectively promote honest behavior among young children. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).
期刊介绍：
Developmental Psychology ® publishes articles that significantly advance knowledge and theory about development across the life span. The journal focuses on seminal empirical contributions. The journal occasionally publishes exceptionally strong scholarly reviews and theoretical or methodological articles. Studies of any aspect of psychological development are appropriate, as are studies of the biological, social, and cultural factors that affect development. The journal welcomes not only laboratory-based experimental studies but studies employing other rigorous methodologies, such as ethnographies, field research, and secondary analyses of large data sets. We especially seek submissions in new areas of inquiry and submissions that will address contradictory findings or controversies in the field as well as the generalizability of extant findings in new populations. Although most articles in this journal address human development, studies of other species are appropriate if they have important implications for human development. Submissions can consist of single manuscripts, proposed sections, or short reports.
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