Abstract

GARCIA RAMOS, Diego Alejandro; BUSTOS AGUAYO, José Marcos  and  FLORES HERRERA, Luz María. Self-Sufficiency Induced by Money Primes Decreases Dishonest Intention and Behavior. Acta de investigación psicol [online]. 2019, vol.9, n.1, pp.15-25.  Epub Nov 25, 2019. ISSN 2007-4719.  https://doi.org/10.22201/fpsi.20074719e.2019.1.02.

Effects of money-related primes over behavior seem inconclusive amongst researchers (Rohrer, Pasher & Harris, 2015). According to Vohs, Mead and Goode (2006) money primes induce people into a state of self-sufficiency, in which they prefer actions selected by themselves and feel more capable. Such state has been positively associated to dishonest intention and behavior (Kouchaki, Smith-Crowe, Brief & Sousa, 2013). To confirm the robustness of these effects, we designed two three-group experiments, and a 3x2 factorial experiment, testing if handling money affected dishonest intention, and dishonest behavior on a concrete task as well as on an abstract task. There were no statistically significant differences between dishonest intention scores (F (2,57)= 0.163, p=0.850; η2p=0.06), concrete-task dishonesty scores (F (2,114)= 0.582, p=0.560; η2p=0.010) or abstract-task dishonesty scores (χ2(2)=2.360, p=0.307). Contrary to what was expected, money-primed groups reported a lower dishonest intention and behavior. This could mean that money acted more as a reminder of honesty or responsibility than a reminder of dishonesty.

Keywords : Cheating; Dishonesty; Money; Priming; Self-Concept.