Understanding the Motivation to Cheat Under High and Low Control

Under what conditions are people more likely to cheat? In this study, we looked to examine the effect of personal control in connection with the motivation to cheat. Specifically, we are interested in which individuals were more likely to engage in, or accept, illegal activity when a cheating cue, signaling either a high or low probability of other people to cheat, is present. Results indicate that individuals who perceive they have low (vs. high) personal control are more likely to cheat when they believe others are not cheating (a low cheating cue), but they cheat directionally less when they believe many other people are cheating (high cheating cue). Moreover, when the cheating cue is high, both low and high control individuals believe the risk of being watched and the risk of being caught is significantly greater than when a low cheating cue is present.