Janis H. Zickfeld, Karolina A. Ścigała, Christian T. Elbæk, John Michael, Mathilde H. Tønnesen, Gabriel Levy, Shahar Ayal, Isabel Thielmann, Laila Nockur, Eyal Peer, Valerio Capraro, Rachel Barkan, Simen Bø, Štěpán Bahník, Daniele Nosenzo, Ralph Hertwig, Nina Mazar, Alexa Weiss, Ann-Kathrin Koessler, Ronit Montal-Rosenberg, Sebastian Hafenbrädl, Yngwie Asbjørn Nielsen, Patricia Kanngiesser, Simon Schindler, Philipp Gerlach, Nils Köbis, Nicolas Jacquemet, Marek Vranka, Dan Ariely, Jareef Bin Martuza, Yuval Feldman, Michał Białek, Jan K. Woike, Zoe Rahwan, Alicia Seidl, Eileen Chou, Agne Kajackaite, Simeon Schudy, Ulrich Glogowsky, Anna Z. Czarna, Stefan Pfattheicher, Panagiotis Mitkidis
{"title":"Effectiveness of ex ante honesty oaths in reducing dishonesty depends on content","authors":"Janis H. Zickfeld, Karolina A. Ścigała, Christian T. Elbæk, John Michael, Mathilde H. Tønnesen, Gabriel Levy, Shahar Ayal, Isabel Thielmann, Laila Nockur, Eyal Peer, Valerio Capraro, Rachel Barkan, Simen Bø, Štěpán Bahník, Daniele Nosenzo, Ralph Hertwig, Nina Mazar, Alexa Weiss, Ann-Kathrin Koessler, Ronit Montal-Rosenberg, Sebastian Hafenbrädl, Yngwie Asbjørn Nielsen, Patricia Kanngiesser, Simon Schindler, Philipp Gerlach, Nils Köbis, Nicolas Jacquemet, Marek Vranka, Dan Ariely, Jareef Bin Martuza, Yuval Feldman, Michał Białek, Jan K. Woike, Zoe Rahwan, Alicia Seidl, Eileen Chou, Agne Kajackaite, Simeon Schudy, Ulrich Glogowsky, Anna Z. Czarna, Stefan Pfattheicher, Panagiotis Mitkidis","doi":"10.1038/s41562-024-02009-0","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>Dishonest behaviours such as tax evasion impose significant societal costs. Ex ante honesty oaths—commitments to honesty before action—have been proposed as interventions to counteract dishonest behaviour, but the heterogeneity in findings across operationalizations calls their effectiveness into question. We tested 21 honesty oaths (including a baseline oath)—proposed, evaluated and selected by 44 expert researchers—and a no-oath condition in a megastudy involving 21,506 UK and US participants from Prolific.com who played an incentivized tax evasion game online. Of the 21 interventions, 10 significantly improved tax compliance by 4.5 to 8.5 percentage points, with the most successful nearly halving tax evasion. Limited evidence for moderators was found. Experts and laypeople failed to predict the most effective interventions, though experts’ predictions were more accurate. In conclusion, honesty oaths were effective in curbing dishonesty, but their effectiveness varied depending on content. These findings can help design impactful interventions to curb dishonesty.</p>","PeriodicalId":19074,"journal":{"name":"Nature Human Behaviour","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":21.4000,"publicationDate":"2024-10-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Nature Human Behaviour","FirstCategoryId":"102","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-024-02009-0","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"MULTIDISCIPLINARY SCIENCES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Dishonest behaviours such as tax evasion impose significant societal costs. Ex ante honesty oaths—commitments to honesty before action—have been proposed as interventions to counteract dishonest behaviour, but the heterogeneity in findings across operationalizations calls their effectiveness into question. We tested 21 honesty oaths (including a baseline oath)—proposed, evaluated and selected by 44 expert researchers—and a no-oath condition in a megastudy involving 21,506 UK and US participants from Prolific.com who played an incentivized tax evasion game online. Of the 21 interventions, 10 significantly improved tax compliance by 4.5 to 8.5 percentage points, with the most successful nearly halving tax evasion. Limited evidence for moderators was found. Experts and laypeople failed to predict the most effective interventions, though experts’ predictions were more accurate. In conclusion, honesty oaths were effective in curbing dishonesty, but their effectiveness varied depending on content. These findings can help design impactful interventions to curb dishonesty.
期刊介绍:
Nature Human Behaviour is a journal that focuses on publishing research of outstanding significance into any aspect of human behavior.The research can cover various areas such as psychological, biological, and social bases of human behavior.It also includes the study of origins, development, and disorders related to human behavior.The primary aim of the journal is to increase the visibility of research in the field and enhance its societal reach and impact.