EFFECTS OF SELF-INSTRUCTION AND COGNITIVE RESTRUCTURING ON ATTITUDE TO LYING AMONG SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN ANAMBRA STATE

SOURCE:

Faculty: Arts
Department: Philosophy

CONTRIBUTORS:

Abodike N. Anthonia,
Unachukwu G. C

ABSTRACT:

Lying is a vice, as such positive attitude to lying has numerous negative consequences that result in unwholesome personality development. This study therefore, sought to determine the effects of self-instruction and cognitive restructuring on attitude to lying among secondary school students in Anambra state. The study was guided by seven research questions, and seven null hypotheses were tested at 0.05 significant level. Pre test post test control quasi-experimental design was adopted. The population was 429 students that comprised 224 JS2 with 117 males and 107 females and 205 SS2 students that comprised 110 males and 95 females. These students were identified by counsellors and class teachers to have positive attitude to lying in the 18 secondary schools in Awka South Local Government Area, Anambra state. Three co-education secondary schools that had the highest number of liars were selected for the study for convenience because the male and female students are in the same school premises. Purposive sampling was used to select 96 students that comprised 54 JS2 with 30 males and 24 females, and 42 SS2 students that comprised 24 males and 18 females. These students scored above the norm of 75 in the instrument for both the males and females. Thirty-item researcher developed questionnaire, Lying Attitude Inventory (LAI), validated by two experts in Guidance and counselling and one in measurement and evaluation from Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, was used for data collection. This instrument yielded reliability co-efficient of 0.97 using Cronbach Alpha statistical method which tested its internal consistency. Data were collected by three researcher trained assistants, and analysed using mean scores to answer the research questions, and ANCOVA to test the null hypotheses. The findings revealed that self-instruction 'I must avoid lying in order to live positively, function well and grow into a wholesome person' and cognitive restructuring 'changing the thought and belief that lying is a clever way of escaping punishment and achieving desires’ are effective in reducing students' attitude to lying in Anambra state. The findings also showed that self-instruction is more effective than cognitive restructuring in reducing the students' attitude to lying, and that there was a significant difference in the mean losses of the treatment groups when compared with control. It further revealed that there was no significant difference in the mean losses with respect to gender and age of students treated with self-instruction; there was a significant difference with respect to gender but no significant difference with respect to age for cognitive restructuring among others. Based on the findings and the implications, the researcher recommends that Guidance counsellors in secondary schools should adopt self-instruction and cognitive restructuring intervention techniques in controlling attitude to lying among students, irrespective of their gender and age, as a way of managing the behavioural challenge. It also recommends that honesty among students should be rewarded to serve as a way of encouraging honest living among the students.