The Truth Behind the Lies: The Experiment
| Author: | Bc. Mikayel Harutyunyan |
|---|---|
| Year: | 2018 - summer |
| Leaders: | doc. PhDr. Julie Chytilová Ph.D. |
| Consultants: | |
| Work type: | Bachelors |
| Language: | English |
| Pages: | 151 |
| Awards and prizes: | B.A. with distinction from the Director of IES FSV UK for an extraordinarily good bachelors diploma thesis. Deloitte Outstanding Thesis Award |
| Link: | https://is.cuni.cz/webapps/zzp/detail/191616/ |
| Abstract: | The Truth Behind The Lies: The Experiment. Abstract The following thesis presents an economic experiment exploring the patterns of cheating behaviors among secondary school students. The students filled in the Big Five and the Dark Triad personality inventories, for which they were rewarded. The payoff in sweets was determined by a die roll. Since the outcomes of the die throw were known only to the subjects, they could decide whether to report the real outcome of the die roll or deceive. Subsequent analysis showed that a certain fraction of participants cheated, but some of them claimed a non-maximal payoff. We also find the appeal to honesty ineffective in reducing the cheating rate. Additionally, we find positive correlation between narcissism, extraversion and cheating, while openness to experience, neuroticism and Morality, a facet of agreeableness, covary negatively with dishonesty. Individuals with poor academic ability cheat less, while subjects who perform better at the Cognitive Reflection Test appear to deceive more. Furthermore, indicators of “unstable” family environment (divorced or unemployed parents) are positively associated with cheating, whilst the effect of a more affluent family background is equivocal. Ultimately, females seem to forgo the opportunity of cheating to a full extent and cheat only partially. Overall, results contradict the Simple Model of Rational Crime paradigm. |
