Some Types of Fables May Be Better at Teaching Kids Not to Lie

Wired:

To teach children not to lie, extolling the virtues of honesty may be more effective than focusing on the punishing consequences of deception.

After listening to how a young George Washington admitted to chopping down a cherry tree—”I cannot tell a lie,” he famously said—children were significantly less likely to lie about their own dishonesty than if they heard “The Boy Who Cried Wolf” or “Pinocchio.”

The difference? Unlike the fairy tales with their grisly punishments, George Washington is lauded for telling the truth. “I always thought stories such as ‘The Boy Who Cried Wolf’ would have far more impact, because they’re so threatening and negative, and kids must be afraid of the consequences,” said psychologist Kang Lee of the University of Toronto. “But it was the other way around.”

Lee’s new study, published in June in the journal Psychological Science, is the latest installment in his decades-long research on deception in children. He was inspired by the question: Do classic, morally instructive tales of honesty, so often told by parents and teachers, actually work?

Read the whole story: Wired