How often do you cheat? Dispositional influences and intrapersonal stability of dishonest behavior

Abstract

Dishonesty, including lying, cheating, deception, and deviating from societal norms, has far-reaching implications across various aspects of modern society. From minor consequences like social discontent to severe outcomes such as economic damage through tax evasion, dishonest behavior affects us in multiple ways. This study investigates whether gender and psychological traits contribute to dishonest behavior, and whether unethical conduct is stable across diverse tasks. We examined 63 participants using a "Difference Spotting Task" (DST) and two motor tasks (1. coordinative throwing; 2. isometric strength). Dishonesty was measured by comparing self-reported performance with actual performance, allowing for a comprehensive analysis of both occurrence and extent of dishonesty. Our findings indicate that gender does not significantly influence the occurrence or extent of dishonest behavior. Moreover, we discovered that "Social Desirability" positively influences the extent of dishonesty, while "Task Orientation" increases the likelihood of engaging in dishonest acts. The study also reveals that the level of dishonesty remains relatively stable across all three tasks at an intrapersonal level.

Keywords: cheating; deviation; dishonesty; gender differences; intrapersonal stability; lying; psychological factors.

Figure 1

Examples of the visual stimuli used in this study. (A) Example of an original stimulus pair in “solvable items,” belonging to the category ”easy.” (B) Example of an original stimulus pair in “unsolvable items,” containing no differences. Participants were instructed that there would be two additional difficulty levels besides (C) “easy,” namely (D) “medium” with six differences, and (E) “hard” with one difference. Note, however, that the instructions differed from the actual stimulus pairs. Differences between the target stimuli are highlighted by red boxes for illustration purposes (Adapted from Liu et al., 2021).

Figure 2

Sequence of events in a single trial in the DST, starting with fixation (1 s) and followed by a pair of pictures for 8 s. The subsequent “Report”-Screen was not timed. Based on the chosen answer (“Yes” or “No”) the corresponding outcome screen was shown (1 s). This trial shows that a participant answered “Yes” in a solvable item and therefore gained 3 cents (Adapted from Liu et al., 2021).