2023-07-08 16:00:00
Contrary to popular belief, stories condemning immoral behavior do not encourage children to act more honestly…
It’s not good to lie ! The adults keep repeating it to the children, and read them stories where liars are punished. The nose of Pinocchio grows longer with each lie, while the “boy who cried wolf” sees his herd decimated by the predator, the villagers no longer believing him after several pranks. We were all rocked by these classics during our childhood, but did they affect our behavior? To find out, researchers tested their influence on 268 children (Psychological Science, 2014). Everyone had to identify toys by their noise and, in the middle of the game, the experimenter left the room, telling the child not to look at the toy left on the table. When he returned, she would tell him a tale and then ask him if he had looked. The stories in which lying had Negative consequences (Pinocchio et The boy who cried wolf) did not encourage the little ones to say the truth. On the other hand, George Washington and the cherry treea story in which the hero is congratulated after confessing his fault, favored their honestymore than a neutral fable (The bunny and the turtle).
Today, scientists are continuing this work, from which it appears that “the most effective is a story where the character confesses his own transgression and draw some profits, deciphers Victoria Talwar, professor in the Department of Psychopedagogy at McGill University, Canada. This sends the child a strong message about way of behavingand the positive repercussions motivate him to be honest.”
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⋙ Can we recognize a liar by the voice?
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