The cheater's high - how being bad feels good

Why do rich celebrities steal groceries? Why do students risk their academic careers by cheating for just a few extra marks? A team of researchers may have the answer: because it feels good. Across several studies, Nicole Ruedy and her colleagues found that people expect that behaving unethically will make them feel bad, and yet when they take the chance to break the rules, it actually gives them a buzz - an effect the researchers dub "the cheater's high". In one study, 179 students at a US university had the chance to earn cash rewards for solving anagrams. Forty-one per cent of them cheated by adding in solutions after they'd seen the answers. And after the test, these cheaters experienced a larger boost in positive emotions compared with the honest students. Of course, it's possible the cheaters' burst of reward was due to the fact they'd earned themselves more money. To factor out financial reward, another study involved 161 students at a different university completing maths and logic problems on a computer. Given the opportunity, 68 per cent of these students cheated by clicking early for the answers. After the test, but not before-hand, the cheaters reported more positive emotion than students not given the chance to cheat. Yet another study sought to uncover the reason why people get a kick from cheating. This time 205 people were recruited online (via Amazon's Mechanical Turk survey website) and had the chance to solve anagrams for cash. Some of the participants ...
Source: BPS RESEARCH DIGEST - Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: Source Type: blogs