Cheating games

Cheating games (i.e., temptation resistance paradigms) were used to assess cheating behavior at age 4 years. Children participated in two separate games (dart game and frog game), in which, if the rules of the game were followed, winning was impossible. Therefore, children were tempted to cheat.

Cheating was only assessed in a subgroup. The ‘dart game’ involved throwing balls at a dartboard on the floor without stepping over a line that was too far from the dartboard to have a reasonable chance of success. Besides the rule of not stepping over the line, the child was also not allowed to throw each ball more than once. In the ‘frog game’, the child had to find three brown frogs hidden under a cloth whereas only green frogs were hidden under the cloth. The game had two rules: no peeking under the cloth, and getting no more than three frogs (or try no more than three times). To make sure the rules were understood, the child was given the opportunity to practice. After a short practice, the child was left alone for 3 minutes to play the game. When the experimenter returned, she ‘discovered’ she had set up the game wrongly, adapted the game and let the child play again to win a prize.

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Keywords
Constructs
Waves
  • Generation R

  • 4 years
    •   C
    46 months - 6.2 years   From 2006-01-01 to 2010-12-31
    Mode of collection Observation
    Analysis unit Individual
    Instrument name Cheating games
    Measure name Cheating/lying
    References
    Asendorpf, J. B., & Nunner-Winkler, G. (1992). Children’s Moral Motive Strength and Temperamental Inhibition Reduce Their Immoral Behavior in Real Moral Conflicts. Child Development, 63(5), 1223. https://doi.org/10.2307/1131529
    Kochanska, G. (1997). Multiple pathways to conscience for children with different temperaments: From toddlerhood to age 5. Developmental Psychology, 33(2), 228–240. https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.33.2.228
    Lewis, M., Sullivan, M. W., Stanger, C., & Weiss, M. (1989). Self Development and Self-Conscious Emotions. Child Development, 60(1), 146. https://doi.org/10.2307/1131080
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