Cognitive load promotes honesty.

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Title: Cognitive load promotes honesty.
Authors: Reis, Moritz (AUTHOR), Pfister, Roland (AUTHOR), Foerster, Anna (AUTHOR)
Source: Psychological Research. Apr2023, Vol. 87 Issue 3, p826-844. 19p. 10 Charts, 6 Graphs.
Subjects: Cognitive load, Honesty, Impact loads
Abstract: In three experiments, we examined the cognitive underpinnings of self-serving dishonesty by manipulating cognitive load under different incentive structures. Participants could increase a financial bonus by misreporting outcomes of private die rolls without any risk of detection. At the same time, they had to remember letter strings of varying length. If honesty is the automatic response tendency and dishonesty is cognitively demanding, lying behavior should be less evident under high cognitive load. This hypothesis was supported by the outcome of two out of three experiments. We further manipulated whether all trials or only one random trial determined payoff to modulate reward adaptation over time (Experiment 2) and whether payoff was framed as a financial gain or loss (Experiment 3). The payoff scheme of one random or all trials did not affect lying behavior and, discordant to earlier research, facing losses instead of gains did not increase lying behavior. Finally, cognitive load and incentive frame interacted significantly, but contrary to our assumption gains increased lying under low cognitive load. While the impact of cognitive load on dishonesty appears to be comparably robust, motivational influences seem to be more elusive than commonly assumed in current theorizing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Copyright of Psychological Research is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
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  Data: Cognitive load promotes honesty.
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Reis%2C+Moritz%22">Reis, Moritz</searchLink> (AUTHOR)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Pfister%2C+Roland%22">Pfister, Roland</searchLink> (AUTHOR)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Foerster%2C+Anna%22">Foerster, Anna</searchLink> (AUTHOR)
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="JN" term="%22Psychological+Research%22">Psychological Research</searchLink>. Apr2023, Vol. 87 Issue 3, p826-844. 19p. 10 Charts, 6 Graphs.
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Cognitive+load%22">Cognitive load</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Honesty%22">Honesty</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Impact+loads%22">Impact loads</searchLink>
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  Data: In three experiments, we examined the cognitive underpinnings of self-serving dishonesty by manipulating cognitive load under different incentive structures. Participants could increase a financial bonus by misreporting outcomes of private die rolls without any risk of detection. At the same time, they had to remember letter strings of varying length. If honesty is the automatic response tendency and dishonesty is cognitively demanding, lying behavior should be less evident under high cognitive load. This hypothesis was supported by the outcome of two out of three experiments. We further manipulated whether all trials or only one random trial determined payoff to modulate reward adaptation over time (Experiment 2) and whether payoff was framed as a financial gain or loss (Experiment 3). The payoff scheme of one random or all trials did not affect lying behavior and, discordant to earlier research, facing losses instead of gains did not increase lying behavior. Finally, cognitive load and incentive frame interacted significantly, but contrary to our assumption gains increased lying under low cognitive load. While the impact of cognitive load on dishonesty appears to be comparably robust, motivational influences seem to be more elusive than commonly assumed in current theorizing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
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  Data: <i>Copyright of Psychological Research is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.</i> (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
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        Value: 10.1007/s00426-022-01686-8
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        Text: English
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              Text: Apr2023
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