Chinese and Canadian adults’ categorization and evaluation of lie- and truth-telling about prosocial and antisocial behaviors

This study examined cross-cultural differences in Chinese and Canadian adults ’ concepts and moral evalua-tions of lying and truth-telling about prosocial and antisocial behaviors. Although Canadian adults catego-rized lies concealing one’s prosocial deeds as lies, their Chinese counterparts did not. Also, Chinese adults rated deception in such situations positively while rating truth-telling in the same situations negatively. These cross-cultural differences appear to reflect differential emphases on the virtue of modesty in the two cultures