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Mad and misleading: Incidental anger promotes deception

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  • Yip, Jeremy A.
  • Schweitzer, Maurice E.

Abstract

Emotions influence ethical behavior. Across four studies, we demonstrate that incidental anger, anger triggered by an unrelated situation, promotes the use of deception. In Study 1, participants who felt incidental anger were more likely to deceive their counterpart than those who felt neutral emotion. In Study 2, we demonstrate that empathy mediates the relationship between anger and deception. In Study 3, we contrast anger with another negative-valence emotion, sadness. We find that participants who felt incidental anger were more likely to use deception than were participants who felt incidental sadness or neutral emotion. In Study 4, we show that incentives moderate the relationship between anger and deception. Collectively, our work reveals that incidental anger promotes unethical behavior because angry people become less empathetic when pursuing their self-interest.

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  • Yip, Jeremy A. & Schweitzer, Maurice E., 2016. "Mad and misleading: Incidental anger promotes deception," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 207-217.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jobhdp:v:137:y:2016:i:c:p:207-217
    DOI: 10.1016/j.obhdp.2016.09.006
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    1. McKenzie R. Rees & Ann E. Tenbrunsel & Kristina A. Diekmann, 2022. "“It’s Just Business”: Understanding How Business Frames Differ from Ethical Frames and the Effect on Unethical Behavior," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 176(3), pages 429-449, March.
    2. Yip, Jeremy A. & Schweitzer, Maurice E., 2019. "Losing your temper and your perspective: Anger reduces perspective-taking," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 28-45.
    3. Margarita Leib & Simone Moran & Shaul Shalvi, 2019. "Dishonest helping and harming after (un)fair treatment," Judgment and Decision Making, Society for Judgment and Decision Making, vol. 14(4), pages 423-439, July.
    4. Diogo Geraldes & Franziska Heinicke & Duk Gyoo Kim, 2022. "The Effect of Chosen or Given Luck on Honesty," CESifo Working Paper Series 9904, CESifo.
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    6. Joseph P. Gaspar & Redona Methasani & Maurice E. Schweitzer, 2022. "Emotional Intelligence and Deception: A Theoretical Model and Propositions," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 177(3), pages 567-584, May.
    7. Yip, Jeremy A. & Schweitzer, Maurice E. & Nurmohamed, Samir, 2018. "Trash-talking: Competitive incivility motivates rivalry, performance, and unethical behavior," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 125-144.
    8. Shohfi, Thomas D. & White, Roger M., 2022. "Does native country turmoil predict immigrant workers’ honesty in markets?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 197(C), pages 150-164.
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    10. Douthit, Jeremy & Millar, Melanie & White, Roger M., 2021. "Horseshoes, hand grenades, and regulatory enforcement: Close experience with potential sanctions and fraud deterrence," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 166(C), pages 137-148.
    11. Minson, Julia A. & VanEpps, Eric M. & Yip, Jeremy A. & Schweitzer, Maurice E., 2018. "Eliciting the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth: The effect of question phrasing on deception," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 147(C), pages 76-93.
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    13. Liu, Pei & Li, Xin & Liu, Nan & Ma, Yu & Wang, Xiaotian & Li, Aimei, 2022. "Is cyber anxiety signaling useful? An examination of leader’s emotional and behavioral reactions," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 1-12.
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    15. Leib, Margarita & Schweitzer, Maurice, 2020. "Peer Behavior Profoundly Influences Dishonesty: Will Individuals Seek-out Information about Peers’ Dishonesty?," OSF Preprints 3pwcg, Center for Open Science.

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