On the impact of Honesty-Humility and a cue of being watched on cheating behavior

Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

Authors

The present contribution examines two factors, as well as their interplay, prominently discussed in the literature on cheating: The basic personality trait of Honesty-Humility from the HEXACO personality model and cues of being watched when given the possibility to cheat. In two studies (Study 1 N = 192, Study 2 N = 957), we applied economically incentivized cheating paradigms (a dice-rolling paradigm and a coin-toss paradigm) and replicated the previously found negative relation between Honesty-Humility and cheating behavior. We further demonstrated that this relation holds beyond the dark personality traits of narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and sadism (i.e., the Dark Tetrad). In fact, Honesty-Humility fully absorbed the positive correlations of Dark Tetrad dimensions and cheating. However, we failed to obtain statistically significant results with respect to the other analyzed factor: manipulating being watched by presenting stylized watching eyes when individuals could cheat did not significantly affect cheating behavior. We further found no significant interaction between the personality factors and the presentation of stylized eyes. The findings are discussed with regard to current debates in the fields of cheating and personality as well as when being watched alters behavior.

Original languageEnglish
JournalJournal of Economic Psychology
Volume71
Pages (from-to)159-174
Number of pages16
ISSN0167-4870
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 03.2019
Externally publishedYes

    Research areas

  • Cheating, Dark Tetrad, Dark Triad, HEXACO, Honesty-Humility, Watching eyes
  • Psychology

Recently viewed

Publications

  1. Can adults learn L2 grammar after prolonged exposure under incidental conditions?
  2. Fragmentierung und lineare Lebensraumstrukturen - eine entomologische Perspektive
  3. Entrepreneurial Traits and Strategy in the Performance of Owner-manager Led Firms
  4. The Influence of Affective States on Driving Behavior of Novice and Young Drivers
  5. Resonanz und Subpolitik als subjektbezogene Zugänge zur Kritik der Nachhaltigkeit
  6. What do we know about cooperative sustainable electrification in the global South?
  7. Wettbewerb der Regulierungen als Integrationsstrategie in der Europäischen Union ?
  8. Application of design of experiments for laser shock peening process optimization
  9. The role of learners’ memory in app-based language instruction: the case of Duolingo.
  10. Das Reallabor als Forschungsprozess und -infrastruktur für nachhaltige Entwicklung
  11. Book Review: Sidonie Naulin and Anne Jourdain, (eds.),The Social Meaning of Extra Money
  12. Scale Misfit in Ecosystem Service Governance as a Source of Environmental Conflict
  13. Livelihood strategies, capital assets, and food security in rural Southwest Ethiopia
  14. Die Maschine auf der Couch. Oder: Was ist schon 'künstlich' an Künstlicher Intelligenz?
  15. PowerPoint und die Einkapselung von Prozessualität im projektübergreifenden Lernen
  16. Managing and accounting for corporate biodiversity contributions mapping the field
  17. Do unfair perceived own pay and top managers’ pay erode satisfaction with democracy?
  18. Identification of phototransformation products of the antiepileptic drug gabapentin
  19. The economic and psychological effects of cash transfers in development cooperation
  20. Uncertainty in the river export modelling of pesticides and transformation products
  21. Towards a Multi-Level Approach to Studying Entrepreneurship in Professional Services
  22. Microstructure, corrosion and creep of as-cast magnesium alloys Mg-2Sn-2Ca and Mg-4Sn-2Ca
  23. Der verfassungsrechtliche Rahmen für Fusionen von Universitäten und Fachhochschulen
  24. Eltern in der Schule der Migrationsgesellschaft. Eine rassismuskritische Perspektive
  25. Rezensionen: Identifikationskrise? Zum Engagement in betrieblichen Führungspositionen
  26. Perspektiven auf Theorie-Praxis-Verknüpfungen in sozialpädagogischen Qualifizierungen
  27. The Impact of AGVs and Priority Rules in a Real Production Setup – A Simulation Study
  28. sPlotOpen – An environmentally balanced, open-access, global dataset of vegetation plots