Luck or Cheating? A Field Experiment on Honesty with Children
We ran an experiment with children to study the development of honesty with age. We asked each child to toss a fair coin in private and to record the outcome (white or black) in a paper sheet. We rewarded only those who reported white. We found a fraction of reported whites signifi cantly larger than 50%, uniformly across age groups. This suggests that some children cheat when cheating is profi table and they are not observed. In a second treatment we told children not to cheat. This reminder reduced the probability of reporting white by 18% on average, and signifi cantly more in girls.
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| Length: | 10 pages |
| Date of creation: | Nov 2008 |
| Handle: | RePEc:kud:kuiedp:0828 |
| Contact details of provider: | Postal: Øster Farimagsgade 5, Building 26, DK-1353 Copenhagen K., Denmark Phone: (+45) 35 32 30 10 Fax: +45 35 32 30 00 Web page: http://www.econ.ku.dk Email: More information through EDIRC
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References listed on IDEAS
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- Uri Gneezy, 2005. "Deception: The Role of Consequences," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(1), pages 384-394, March.
- Gerald J. Pruckner & Rupert Sausgruber, 2008.
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Working Papers
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- Sutter, Matthias, 2007. "Outcomes versus intentions: On the nature of fair behavior and its development with age," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 69-78, January.
- Matthias Sutter, 2007. "Outcomes versus intentions. on the nature of fair behavior and its development with age," Artefactual Field Experiments 00109, The Field Experiments Website.
- Nina Mazar & Dan Ariely, 2006. "Dishonesty in everyday life and its policy implications," Working Papers 06-3, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
- Harbaugh, William T. & Krause, Kate & Vesterlund, Lise, 2007. "Learning to bargain," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 127-142, January.
- William T. Harbaugh & Kate Krause & Lise Vesterlund, 2003. "Learning to Bargain," University of Oregon Economics Department Working Papers 2004-9, University of Oregon Economics Department, revised 01 Nov 2003.
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