The Effect Of Self-efficacy On Children’s Cheating Behavior And Its Educational Implications

Throughout the ages,cheating is very common.Cheating in academics and in society for the sake of gaining a reputation has occurred from time to time.Previous research has shown that cheating occurs as early as the preschool years,which is an important stage of individual behavior and moral development.At this stage,good behavior norms and moral qualities are formed,which is conducive to children’s Personality development and social adaptation in adolescence and even adulthood.Therefore,it is of vital significance to pay attention to and deeply explore the occurrence,development and influencing factors of individual moral behavior(cheating behavior)in the preschool period.Among the many factors that may affect cheating behavior,self-efficacy is an important factor.It refers to the judgment of individuals on whether they have the ability to complete tasks to achieve goals,and can be divided into two types: general self-efficacy and task-based self-efficacy.Previous studies on self-efficacy have mainly focused on academic achievement and sports among college students and adults.Few studies have explored the relationship between self-efficacy and preschool children’s cheating from the source of individual moral development(children’s preschool age).behavior is relevant.Therefore,this study aims to systematically explore whether and how general self-efficacy and task-based self-efficacy affect children’s cheating behavior through a combination of behavioral experiments and questionnaire measurements,taking children aged 5-6 as the research objects.In this study,we investigated the cheating behavior of 5-6-year-old children(N =200)using the counting test paradigm compiled by Zhao et al.Cheating was defined by peeking and copying answers.In the study,children’s general self-efficacy was measured by the general self-efficacy questionnaire,and the task-based self-efficacy(hereinafter referred to as “task self-efficacy”)was measured by a self-made numerical figure task.In addition,the experimenter used the figure-figure task to experimentally manipulate the children’s task self-efficacy,that is,let the children gain successful experience in the task to improve their task self-efficacy(experimental group),and other children were not given any tasks(control group).Study 1(N = 100,after pre-registration)explored whether self-efficacy is related to children’s cheating behavior.Since previous studies divided self-efficacy into general self-efficacy and task self-efficacy,Study 1 conducted a step-by-step exploration through Study 1A and Study 1B,that is,to explore whether general self-efficacy,task self-efficacy and cheating Behavior exists.The results showed that general self-efficacy,task self-efficacy and children’s cheating behavior were not significantly correlated.Previous studies have found that the improvement of task self-efficacy would affect individual behaviors(such as academic performance),and there is a certain relationship between academic performance and cheating behavior.Therefore,on the basis of Study 1,Study 2(N = 100,after pre-registration)further investigated whether and how the improvement of children’s task self-efficacy affects cheating behavior.The children were randomly and evenly assigned to the experimental group(i.e.,children gained successful experience in the task and thus improved their task-based self-efficacy)and the control group(i.e.,children were not given any tasks,and did not receive any self-efficacy manipulation).It was found that compared with the control group,children in the experimental group cheated less,which indicated that improving children’s task self-efficacy can effectively reduce their cheating behavior.In general,this study is the first to explore the relationship between two types of self-efficacy and cheating behavior in preschool children,revealing that the improvement of task self-efficacy can reduce children’s cheating behavior.This result not only provides a scientific basis for the development and improvement of children’s early moral behavior development theory,but also provides a new idea for early childhood honesty education and even the intervention of dishonesty behavior,that is,parents and teachers can improve children’s sense of task self-efficacy to reduce or even curb the occurrence of its cheating behavior,thereby promoting the formation of its honesty quality and the development of honesty behavior.