This research suggests that the first step in the design of mitigation strategies is to disaggregate the behavior and focus on specific forms of dishonesty.
Keep an eye out for more of my research on this point 👀
💢New paper alert💢
Dishonesty is everywhere — but it’s not all the same. My new solo-authored paper in Journal of Experimental Psychology: General disentangles cheating and lying as distinct forms of dishonesty.
Link to paper: doi.org/10.1037/xge0...
A thread 🧵👇
The scrutiny of the environment moderates the effect of opportunity on dishonesty. I identify different rates of cheating and lying in high-scrutiny environments but similar rates of cheating and lying in low-scrutiny environments.
In 14 experiments (N = 7,684), I randomly assigned people to either have an opportunity to lie or an opportunity to cheat, here’s what I found:
People who have an opportunity to cheat...
...are more likely to engage in higher levels of dishonesty
...often feel more clever and excited after engaging in dishonesty
...more often opt into additional opportunities to engage in dishonesty
Cheating vs. Lying: Cheating involves generating false evidence. Falsifying documents, doctoring receipts, and fabricating data are all examples of cheating. Lying, on the other hand, involves misreporting an outcome.
