Cheat, cheat, repeat
On the consistency of dishonest behavior in structurally comparable situations
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6199879 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Isabel Thielmann (0000-0002-9071-5709, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Crime, Security and Law), Benjamin E Hilbig (0000-0002-1470-1882), Christoph Schild (0000-0002-6668-5773, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Crime, Security and Law), Daniel W Heck (0000-0002-6302-9252, Philipps University of Marburg) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 128 |
| Issue | 5 |
| Pages | 1209-1225 |
| Publication date | 2025-01-20 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0022-3514 • E-ISSN: 1939-1315 |
| Publisher | American Psychological Association (APA) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1037/pspp0000540 |
| PMID | 39836137 |
| OpenAlex | W4406670694 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
1,916) and demographically diverse sample. Dishonest behavior was measured three times-up to 3 years apart-using different variants of well-established, incentivized cheating paradigms. A key advantage of these paradigms is that lying is individually profitable but not self-incriminating. Besides varying the specific task at hand, we experimentally varied the nature of incentives (i.e., money vs. avoiding tedious work) as well as their magnitude across measurement occasions. The consistency of dishonest behavior was estimated using a newly developed statistical model. Results showed strong consistency of dishonest behavior across contexts in most cases. Furthermore, theoretically relevant personality traits (i.e., Honesty-Humility and the Dark Factor) yielded meaningful relations both with dishonesty and indeed its consistency. Thus, contrary to long-standing assumptions, there is notable consistency in dishonest behavior that can be attributed to underlying dispositional factors. Overall, the current findings have important implications for the theoretical understanding of dishonest behavior by providing strong evidence for (dis)honesty as a trait as well as for practice (e.g., honesty interventions). Moreover, the newly developed statistical approach can serve future research across scientific fields. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)
Cheating · Consistency (knowledge bases) · Computer Science · Decision-Making and Behavioral Economics · Experimental Behavioral Economics Studies · Psychology · Social Psychology
| Unique citing works | 3 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 3 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2026 (2) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 3 |