The attenuating effect of mortality salience on dishonest behavior

People are easily tempted to engage in dishonest behavior when an incentive is given and when full anonymity is provided. In the present work, we investigated existential threat as a motivational factor that might reduce dishonest behavior. Research based on terror management theory has found that mortality salience increases the motivation to fulfill salient values of one’s cultural worldview. Assuming the concept of honesty is important to human societies, we hypothesized that mortality salience will reduce dishonest behavior when the concept of honesty is salient. In two experiments, we assessed dishonesty under full anonymity by applying a die-under-the-cup paradigm with the expected value serving as a stochastic baseline for honest behavior. Both experiments provided support for our hypothesis. Given an incentive to cheat, when the concept of honesty was cognitively activated by a word-search puzzle (Study 1) or by the name of the dice game (i.e., “honest game”; Study 2), mortality salient participants showed not only less dishonest behavior but actually honest behavior.

     

未来自我连续性对不诚信行为的影响:一个有调节的中介模型

着眼于长期收益的跨期决策风格如何影响当下不诚信行为是决策研究的重要主题之一。研究着意探讨未来自我连续性对不诚信行为的规约作用及其条件。结果发现,(1)未来自我连续性高的人,更不能容忍不诚信行为,不诚信行为的意向更弱;(2)考虑未来后果在未来自我连续性与不诚信行为之间起中介作用,未来自我连续性越高的人,越多考虑行为的未来结果,不诚信行为的概率越低;(3)熟人/陌生人情境对未来自我连续性与考虑未来后果间关系发挥调节作用,熟人情境下,未来自我连续性高的人也会更多考虑行为的未来后果。这些发现对于理解自我连续性的行为规约功能和基于个体跨期选择助推诚信环境营造具有借鉴意义。     

Dishonest deed, clear conscience: when cheating leads to moral disengagement and motivated forgetting

People routinely engage in dishonest acts without feeling guilty about their behavior. When and why does this occur? Across four studies, people justified their dishonest deeds through moral disengagement and exhibited motivated forgetting of information that might otherwise limit their dishonesty. Using hypothetical scenarios (Studies 1 and 2) and real tasks involving the opportunity to cheat (Studies 3 and 4), the authors find that one's own dishonest behavior increased moral disengagement and motivated forgetting of moral rules. Such changes did not occur in the case of honest behavior or consideration of the dishonest behavior of others. In addition, increasing moral saliency by having participants read or sign an honor code significantly reduced unethical behavior and prevented subsequent moral disengagement. Although dishonest behavior motivated moral leniency and led to forgetting of moral rules, honest behavior motivated moral stringency and diligent recollection of moral rules.     

天气和空气污染对诚信行为的影响：一项校园丢钱包的现场实验

本文通过两个研究探讨天气状况和空气污染对诚信行为的影响。研究1通过重新分析Cohn, Maréchal, Tannenbaum和Zünd (2019)在全球范围内对诚信行为的研究数据, 发现了天气状况和空气污染对诚信行为的影响; 研究2通过准实验的研究方法, 在3所高校进行了丢钱包的实验并记录当天天气和空气污染状况。两项研究共同表明：(1)在非晴朗的天气下, 人们会做出更多的不诚信行为; (2)空气污染越严重, 人们越有可能出现不诚信的 行为。     

不诚实行为的认知神经机制

说谎,作为人性的一方面,已经成为心理学、生物进化学、实验经济学等多学科的关注点。说谎会受到多种文化的谴责,说谎行为也是人们所不支持的。但是国外的研究发现,在普通人群中,不诚实行为也是普遍存在的,而且这种不诚实行为并没有影响被试诚实的自我概念。因此了解这种不诚实行为的发生、发展过程,对人们认识和识别不诚实行为,提高人际互动质量至关重要。本文从不诚实行为的发生、发展过程出发,重点介绍了不诚实行为的研究范式、认知神经机制和影响因素。并针对已有研究的不足:(1)实验结果的解释水平低;(2)变量操纵不严谨;(3)研究方法局限; 提出了可能的解决方案。     

Facial and vocal cues of deception and honesty

Facial expressions and vocal cues (filtered speech) of honest and deceptive messages were examined in posed and spontaneous situations. The question of interest was the degree to which nonverbal cues transmit information about deception. Results indicated that (a) for both the facial and vocal channels, posing (as compared to spontaneous behavior) produced a higher level of communication accuracy; (b) facial expressions of deceptive (as compared to honest) messages were rated as less pleasant, while vocal expressions of deception were rated as less honest, less assertive, and less dominant, particularly in the posed condition; (c) the sender's ability to convey honesty was negatively correlated with his/her ability to convey deception, suggesting the existence of a demeanor bias—individual senders tend to appear and sound consistently honest (or dishonest) regardless of whether they deliver an honest or a deceptive message; (d) in the posing condition, the sender's abilities to convey honesty/deception via facial and vocal cues were positively and significantly correlated, whereas in the spontaneous condition they were not; and (e) senders whose full (unfiltered) speech indicated more involvement with their responses were judged as more honest from both their vocal (filtered speech) and facial cues, in both the honest and deceptive conditions.     

A meta-analysis of the validity of the employee attitude inventory theft scales

This article summarizes the criterion-related and construct validity evidence for theEmployee Attitude Inventory (EAI) theft scales. These paper-and-pencil measures were designed to help employers gain information about theft among current employees. It is argued that the validity of the theft scales is dependent on the proportion of dishonest employees in the group being screened. Using meta-analysis techniques, the theft scales were shown to have useful levels of validity regardless of the proportion of dishonest employees in the population being screened. Also, the validity coefficients were relatively invariant across organizations and occupations. Thus the available evidence supports the use of the EAI as an effective tool for identifying dishonest employees. However, given that the present analyses are based on a relatively small set of data, the authors' conclusions should be regarded as preliminary. These analyses should be repeated as additional validity data becomes available.The opinions expressed in the report are those of the authors, and do not necessarily represent those of any organizations with which the authors are associated.     

School Interventions for Dishonest Behavior

Cheating, lying, and nonconfrontative stealing (i.e., theft which does not involve use of force with a victim) are dishonest behaviors that cause much concern and occur quite extensively in educational settings. These behaviors have long been acknowledged by mental health and special service practitioners to be predictive of later social and emotional maladjustment. Issues pertinent to effective diagnosis of dishonest behavior in school settings are initially discussed. Published behavioral intervention approaches are reviewed. Finally, school environment factors that contribute to dishonesty in children and suggestions for school-based prevention strategies are presented.     

Workplace Integrity: Differences in Perceptions of Behaviors and Situational Factors

Pre-employment integrity tests assume differences between honest and dishonest individuals in their perceptions of the degree of dishonesty of given behaviors. This exploratory study investigated whether individuals classified as dishonest by an overt integrity test had different perceptions of the honesty of behaviors than those classified as honest. Differences in perceptions of situational factors promoting or deterring honesty were also examined. Dishonest individuals had different perceptions of behaviors and situations than honest individuals, suggesting that the relative influence of situational interventions may vary with the general integrity of a workforce.     

Proactive and reactive aggression in delinquent adolescents: relations to aggression outcome expectancies

Investigated whether the relation between aggression and the tendency to expect positive outcomes for aggressive behavior is specific to the proactive subtype of aggression (as opposed to the reactive subtype). In a sample of 86 incarcerated adolescent boys ages 13 to 18, we measured outcome expectancies for aggression using audiotaped hypothetical vignettes. For each participant, staff members completed proactive and reactive aggression rating scales. Regression analyses revealed that the relation between aggression and outcome expectancies was indeed specific to proactive aggression. Furthermore, this finding was supported regardless of whether outcome expectancies were assessed using vignettes describing proactive-aggressive behavior or those describing reactive-aggressive behavior. We discuss these findings and argue that interventions to reduce proactive or reactive aggression should differ from each other by addressing the specific social cognitive processes involved in each type of aggression.     

Depressive symptoms interfere with post-rehabilitation exercise: Outcome expectancies and experience as mediators

The aim of the study was to examine the relationship between depressive symptoms and physical exercise by unveiling how outcome expectancies regarding exercise and positive exercise experience could mediate between depressive symptoms and exercise. A longitudinal study included 178 cardiac and orthopedic rehabilitation patients in Germany. Patients responded to psychometric scales at two points in time with a six-week interval, assessing depressive symptoms (Time 1), outcome expectancies regarding exercise (Time 1), exercise experiences (Time 2), and exercise behavior (Times 1 and 2). Depressive symptoms were negatively related to physical exercise (r?=-?0.18), to positive outcome expectancies (r?=-?0.23), and to positive exercise experiences (r?=-?0.26). In a multiple-step mediation model, expectancies and experiences mediated between depressive symptoms and exercise. In total, 15% of the exercise variance was accounted for. Outcome expectancies and a lack of positive experience seem to partly explain why depressed individuals are less likely to exercise.     

Predicting Condom Use in African American STD Patients: The Role of Two Types of Outcome Expectancies1

This study examined the association of two types of condom use outcome expectancies (self-approval and partner reaction) with patterns of safer sexual behavior among predominantly African American patients at a sexually transmitted diseases (STD) clinic. As expected, both individuals' own self-approval outcome expectancies and their partner reaction outcome expectancies predicted consistency of condom use, although partner reaction expectancies predicted condom use above and beyond the effects of self-approval expectancies. Furthermore, individuals who believed that they and their partner shared positive condom use outcome expectancies reported the greatest use of condoms. These findings suggest that HIV prevention programs should address both types of condom use outcome expectancies in order to maximize behavior change.     

Differential Determinants of Young Adult Substance Use and High‐Risk Sexual Behavior1

This investigation evaluated how personality traits, self‐efficacy, and outcome expectancies differentially relate to young adult substance use and high‐risk sex. Experiments I (N= 481) and 2 (N= 73) report the development of a new questionnaire to assess self‐efficacy for substance use and sexual behavior. Experiment 3 (N= 375) tested self‐efficacy, outcome expectancies, and trait measures of social conformity and sensation seeking as correlates of substance use and high‐risk sex. Using structural equation modeling, cross‐sectional analyses revealed that positive outcome expectancies had the largest association with substance use, whereas self‐efficacy had the largest association with sexual behavior. Further, personality traits were related to substance use and sexual behavior indirectly through outcome expectancies, with social conformity also having a direct effect on behavior. When examined longitudinally, past alcohol and drug use served as the final pathway by which expectancies and personality impacted substance use, whereas past behavior, self‐efficacy, and social conformity all contributed to high‐risk sex. Results support the utility of different models for explaining, and possibly preventing, young adult substance use and high‐risk sex.     

The Kernel of Truth in Judgments of Deceptiveness

We investigated the relation between appearance-based impressions of honesty and individuals' willingness to engage in deceptive behaviors. The data reveal that people who were thought to look dishonest were more likely to volunteer to participate in research that was described as requiring deception on their part than were individuals who were perceived to look honest. The data are consistent with the predictions of a self-fulfilling prophecy model of social behavior, as well as recent research that documents a kernel of truth in appearance-based impressions. The results further suggest that naive judgments of deception are more accurate than has been supposed.     

What Happens in Therapy? Adolescents’ Expectations and Perceptions of Psychotherapy

A measure of adolescent pre-treatment expectations/perceptions of psychotherapy was developed, evaluated, and used to examine adolescent expectancies of psychotherapy. The development of the Psychotherapy Expectations and Perceptions Inventory (PEPI) is described and initial psychometric properties reported. Utilizing a sample of adolescents (N = 546), expectancies of psychotherapy were assessed using the PEPI. Results indicate adequate internal consistency and a 3 factor structure. Specifically, factors identified were labeled (1) measuring negative expectancies, (2) process/outcome expectancies, and (3) expectancies for a positive therapeutic relationship. Boys reported greater negative expectancies, but also greater expectancies for a positive therapeutic relationship. Girls reported greater therapy process/outcome expectancies. Prior contact with mental illness was not related to any studied factors. Clinicians may benefit from assessing adolescent expectancies to facilitate rapport and engagement in the therapy to foster more therapeutic change. Future research that examines the relationships between specific demographic characteristics (e.g., socioeconomic status, race/ethnicity, etc.) and service utilization variables among adolescents is warranted.     

The role of moral identity in the aftermath of dishonesty

People lie on a regular basis. However, lying can pose a threat to the self-view of being an honest and moral person. How do people respond to their previous dishonest acts? A way to deal with psychological discomfort arisen for previous lying is reconfirming oneself to be an honest and moral person, for example, by showing subsequent moral behavior. We hypothesize that people engage in this reconfirmation depending on whether their moral identity is central to their self-concept. This was supported in three studies in which, compared to low moral identifiers, high moral identifiers engaged in more efforts to uphold a moral self-image and were more likely to show a compensatory reaction rather than a consistency reaction to their previous dishonesty. Implications for the topics of moral self-regulation and compensatory ethics and for the concept of moral identity are discussed.     

Chronic and temporary distinct expectancies as comparison standards: automatic contrast in dispositional judgments

In 4 studies, the authors examined whether making outcome expectancies distinct resulted in their use as comparison standards and, consequently, in contrastive dispositional inferences for a target's behaviors. The expectancies examined were based on either chronic future-event expectancies (Study 1) or temporary, manipulated expectancy standards (Studies 2-4). Analyses revealed that when contextual expectancies were distinct or separable from target information, participants' dispositional judgments were contrasted from them under cognitive load and overcorrected (assimilated to them) under no load. These effects were mediated by participants' behavior categorizations. Evidence suggestive of a proceduralized form of correction for task difficulty and an effortful awareness-based correction for the effects of expectancies also were found. Results are examined in light of recent models of the dispositional inference process.     

Unwilling but not unable to control: Ego depletion increases effortful dishonesty with material rewards

Previous studies have found that ego depletion increases dishonesty. However, it remains unclear whether ego depletion makes participants unable to exert self‐control or unwilling to exert self‐control when it increases dishonesty. The present study aimed to clarify this. Based on the process model, ego depletion causes individuals to pay more attention to material rewards and increases the motivation to act on impulse. Therefore, it is possible that ego‐depleted participants are unwilling, rather than unable, to be honest. We conducted two experiments to examine this hypothesis. Results showed that ego depletion increased material‐based dishonesty even when the dishonest behavior was more complicated and effortful than was the honest behavior. However, participants were reluctant to cheat just for convenience, and ego depletion had no apparent effect on convenience‐based dishonesty without any material rewards. The theoretical implications and future directions of these results are discussed.     

Expectancy Accessibility and the Influence of Outcome Expectancies on Adolescent Smokeless Tobacco Use

This study investigated the moderating influence of expectancy accessibility on the relation between outcome expectancies and drug use intentions. Specifically, it was hypothesized that expectancies made temporarily more accessible would predict smokeless tobacco intentions to a greater degree than would less accessible expectancies. In addition, it was anticipated that expectancies regarding positive outcomes of smokeless tobacco use would be better predictors of intention than would expectancies about negative outcomes. Results partially supported the accessibility hypothesis, but this effect occurred for positive outcome expectancies only. In addition, the anticipated prepotency of positive over negative expectancies in predicting drug use intentions was strongly supported. These findings are consistent with theories of problem behavior which differentiate between positive and negative outcome expectancies and which postulate that accessibility of expectancies plays an important role in expectancy-behavior relations.