Research summary
Cheating is common in today’s educational institutions-and it has serious negative consequences for individuals, institutions and society in general. Despite growing awareness that it happens, little is known about why. As Canada Research Chair in Moral Development and Developmental Neuroscience, Dr. Kang Lee aims to bridge this knowledge gap.
He and his research team are systematically examining academic cheating in children as young as five years old. They are using behavioural observations, psychological assessments and imaging to gather cross-sectional and longitudinal data. Their goal is to answer key questions about academic cheating, such as when and how it happens in early childhood, what factors contribute to children’s cheating behaviours, and what the verbal, nonverbal, physiological and neural correlates of cheating behaviour are in children. Their findings will transform our understanding of academic cheating in childhood and inform early intervention programs to promote academic integrity.