Date

5-23-2025

Department

School of Behavioral Sciences

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology (PhD)

Chair

Rachel Piferi

Keywords

Moral behavior, Bible Stories, Cheating, Lying, Theory of Mind

Disciplines

Psychology

Abstract

The current study sought to evaluate how different versions of a Bible story affected children’s subsequent cheating and lying behavior in a temptation task. The first condition (relational) heard a story about Jacob cheating his brother and lying to his father, but he later told the truth and reunited with his brother. The second story (punitive) was the same up until Jacob had been running away from his brother for years, but in this version he did not tell the truth and never reunited with his family. The relational story emphasized the value of telling the truth while the punitive story focused on the negative ramifications of telling a lie. Children in the relational condition were less likely to cheat and lie in the temptation task than those in the punitive condition and based on qualitative analysis,, three themes emerged from the open-ended portion of the sessions. The first, moral justification, was much more prevalent in the punitive condition, possibly because children were focused on getting out of trouble instead of considering their behavior. The second theme, emotional awareness, was also more frequent for the children in the punitive condition. Finally, the third theme, moral awareness, did not differ based on group, suggesting that while all children understood the moral of the story, those in the relational group were more likely to behave in accordance with it. Theory of mind was also related to each of those themes. Overall, findings indicate that there is value in better understanding the way that Bible lessons are taught to children. It seems that relational stories have a greater impact on not only the behavior of children, but also the way they process their decisions. While previous literature has shown that this may be the case with secular stories, this study indicates that the same may be true with children’s understanding and internalization of the morals of the Bible.

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