Comment by wil421
5 years ago
That’s untrue. Kids in western cultures are taught to lie. It’s white lies, for example your mom baked your a cake and it didn’t taste good. Parents still say you need to say it was good no matter what.
A white lie is told to “avoid “conflict” as you stated above.
I wouldn't generalize that to all western cultures. America, for sure -- that goes along with the superficial "How are you?" questions where nobody actually even wants an answer. Superficial politeness for the sake of superficial politeness, even if that means deceit, lies, and laying down groundwork for later disappointment.
But many places that would be considered poor form because you are setting up for disappointment later (when the truth comes out), and the thinking is "why would you do that to someone?". In those places, kids might be forced to say thank you, but not that they enjoyed it.