Why do People Cheat?
EMOTIONAL “…In short, the move from small infractions to a deliberate pattern of deception of fraud is less an incremental slide than a deliberate strategy. And in most people it takes shape for personal, and often very emotional, reasons, psychololgists say….” – The Psychology of Cheating, Benedict Carey, New York Times, April 16, 2011.
EVERYONE IS DOING IT And “Cheating is contagious”, says cognitive psychologist Dr. David Rettinger of the University of Mary Washington. In his 2009 study published in Research in Higher Education, Dr. Rettinger found that direct knowledge of others cheating, was the biggest predictor of cheating. – “The Human Beast- Why People Cheat”, Dr. Nigel Barber, Psychology Today, May 12, 2011.
GOALS in CONTEXT- “BOUNDED ETHICALITY” Ann Tenbrunsel, a researcher at Notre Dame noted after an experiment with two groups of people, that those instructed to consider a business decision, rather than an ethical decision, were signifcantly more likely to lie given an opportunity. – the business frame cognitvely activated the goal – to be competent, to be successful- and less able to process ethical decision making.
SHORT TERM – WE CARE ABOUT THOSE WE IDENTIFY WITH, not a FUTURE ABSTRACTION
http://www.npr.org/2012/05/01/151764534/psychology-of-fraud-why-good-people-do-bad-things