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But then he tried another variation: Before doing the test, he asked one group of subjects to name 10 books they had read in high school. He asked another group
by bouncingsoul 19y ago
But then he tried another variation: Before doing the test, he asked one group of subjects to name 10 books they had read in high school. He asked another group to name as many of the Ten Commandments as they could remember. The group that listed the books followed the same pattern as the earlier test – they all cheated a little. But the group that named the commandments was different: Nobody cheated at all!
"Just the act of contemplating morality eliminated cheating," Ariely explains.
This conclusion seems like one someone wanted to make, not one that makes sense.
Couldn't it just be that people know the ten commandments are easily checked, so it's silly to try to make some up?
And I don't understand how they know people cheated on the books question. How can you possibly find out what books someone read while in high school? Unless they mean specifically which ones were assigned (which still seems hard to verify).
And if people listed some titles they hadn't read it doesn't imply cheating: they could simply be remembering incorrectly.
- warwick 19y agoI found that section confusing too. I think it's just the result of a bit of bad writing though. After rereading it, I'd guess they had subjects list books or commandments and then take the addition test.
- bouncingsoul 19y agoI think you're right.
- deleted 19y ago[deleted]
- zealog 19y agoI've read about this bit of the book in other articles. The cheating was not on the books/10 commandments, it was on a math quiz (that afforded cheating) which followed the listing. For those that listed books, some would cheat on the next bit. For those that listed commandments, they wouldn't.