Elements Affecting Children’s Moral Judgment of Lying: A Review

This paper synthesized recent empirical literature on the elements affecting children's moral judgment of lying. Overall, 25 published empirical studies investigated the effects of 14 salient elements on the way children made moral judgments about others' lying behavior. These 14 elements were found related to one of four broad categories, including the lie itself, the lie-teller, the target, and the research subjects. Specifically, the differences in children's moral judgment of lying were rooted in variations in the elements of the lie (namely, the likelihood of message, belief, and consequence), the lie-teller (intention, status differentials and occupation), of the target (including status differentials and social distance), and the research subjects (age, gender, social-cultural differences, group vs. individuals, educational background and personal morality, and social group). Suggestions for further research were discussed.