Eddie Gonzales Jr. – MessageToEagle.com – Four studies to determine if people will cheat when rewards are solely intrinsic and what drives the feeling of accomplishment despite the cheating were conducted by researchers at Penn State.
An American-style crossword puzzle. Image credit: Spaghettifier – CC BY-SA 4.0
Sara Dommer, assistant professor of marketing at Penn State, wondered why people cheat on tasks like crossword puzzles or counting calories when rewards are purely intrinsic, like feeling smarter or healthier.
She found that when cheating improves self-perception, individuals engage in diagnostic self-deception—cheating but attributing their enhanced performance to innate ability instead.
In the first study, 288 undergraduates received menus for three days’ meals, like pancakes with butter, and entered calorie information into a food-tracking app. They were split into two groups: one received additional calorie counts with meal descriptions.
“I found that people do cheat when there are no extrinsic incentives like money or prizes but intrinsic rewards, like feeling better about yourself,” Dommer said. “For this to work, it has to happen via diagnostic self-deception, meaning that I have to convince myself that I am actually not cheating. Doing so allows me to feel smarter, more accomplished or healthier.”
The app listed five calorie options for each food. For instance, three pancakes with butter ranged from 300 to 560 calories. Lacking specific information, the group could average these options to estimate the meal’s caloric value, according to Dommer.
Participants in this group entered fewer calories than those given specific calorie information, suggesting people cheat for intrinsic benefits like feeling healthier. In the second study, 195 Amazon Mechanical Turk participants were divided into a control and a cheat group to complete a 10-question multiple-choice IQ test.
The cheat group was told correct answers would be highlighted for progress tracking. After the exam, they reported their scores, while the control group estimated theirs. Both groups’ tests were then graded, and participants predicted their score on a new 10-question IQ test without cheating options.
Dommer found cheat group participants reported higher scores and overestimated their performance on the second IQ test. Results suggested they engaged in diagnostic self-deception, attributing success to intelligence rather than cheating, despite evidence to the contrary.
The third study mirrored the second but involved 195 participants unscrambling letters to form words, like “utmost” from “motuts.” The control group entered answers in a box, while the cheat group saw the correct answer after 3 minutes and self-reported scores. Participants then rated on a scale of one to seven how much their intelligence and task difficulty contributed to their performance. They also used this scale to indicate agreement with whether unscrambling words tests intelligence accurately.
Dommer found those in the cheat group reported unscrambling more words and were more likely to attribute their performance to intelligence, compared to the control group. They also considered the task a legitimate test of intelligence.
“Participants in the cheat group engaged in diagnostic self-deception and attributed their performance to themselves,” Dommer said. “The thinking goes, ‘I’m performing well because I’m smart, not because the task allowed me to cheat.’”
The final study involved 231 participants taking a financial literacy test, divided into control and cheat groups. About half of each group read a statement on how most American adults fail basic financial tests, aiming to make them value accuracy over performance and reduce cheating. After the test, participants rated themselves on 15 traits related to financial literacy using a scale from one to seven.
Dommer found that introducing uncertainty reduced cheating as individuals sought accurate measures of financial literacy.
“How do we stop people from engaging in diagnostic self-deception and gain a more accurate self-view? One way is to highlight uncertainty around the trait, which seems to reduce the effect,” Dommer said.
Society often views “cheating” as intentional, but this work suggests it sometimes occurs unconsciously.
“I don’t think there’s good or bad cheating,” she said. “It’s interesting that not all cheating is conscious, explicit, and intentional.”
Illusory self-beliefs can be harmful, especially regarding financial or physical health. Diagnostic self-deception may lead to underusing helpful products and services. Awareness of these beliefs is essential for accurate self-assessment.
Written by Eddie Gonzales Jr. – MessageToEagle.com Staff Writer