{"id":111,"date":"2025-06-03T14:11:11","date_gmt":"2025-06-03T18:11:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/people.bsu.edu\/econbriefs\/?p=111"},"modified":"2025-06-03T14:11:11","modified_gmt":"2025-06-03T18:11:11","slug":"cheating-for-a-cause-by-dr-cecil-bohanon-and-dr-john-horowitz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/people.bsu.edu\/econbriefs\/2025\/06\/03\/cheating-for-a-cause-by-dr-cecil-bohanon-and-dr-john-horowitz\/","title":{"rendered":"Cheating for a Cause \u2013 by Dr. Cecil Bohanon and Dr. John Horowitz"},"content":{"rendered":"

Do people tend to cheat more when they are trying to make money for themselves or when they are trying to advance a charitable cause? Psychologists have experiments that address this question. A participant rolls a dice twenty times. Before each roll, the participant chooses either the number on the top of the dice or the number on the bottom. After the roll, the participant wins, in dollars, the number on the side they chose. A standard dice has top-bottom pairings of 1- 6, 2-5, and 3-4. If the participant chose bottom and 6 came up on top, she would win $1 since 1 was on the bottom. Suppose 100 people each roll the dice 20 times, making 2,000 rolls. We\u2019d expect half the rolls, or 1,000, to yield the higher payoffs: $6, $5, or $4. The other half yields the lower amounts: $1, $2, or $3.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In round 2, participants only reveal whether they chose the top or the bottom <\/span>after<\/span><\/b> each roll. What happens? People (not so) mysteriously become \u201cvery lucky,\u201d especially with the 1-6 combination. At the extreme, all the 2,000 dice rolls would be 6, 5, or 4! In actual experiments, people do not lie quite that much. Typically, they get the higher payoff, about 13 or 14 out of the 20 rolls, disproportionately with a 1-6 roll. People cheat\u2014not all people, not all the time, but with consistent regularity.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In round 3, as in round 2, the choice of top or bottom is revealed after the roll. However, in this case, the money goes to a charitable cause of the player\u2019s choice. Duke Professor and Behavioral Economist Dan Ariely reports that <\/span>\u201cpeople cheat more<\/span><\/a>\u201d in this case.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Interestingly, Ariely\u2019s comment is from his role in the 2019 HBO film \u201cThe Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley\u201d about the rise and fall of Theranos Corporation and its founder, Elizabeth Holmes. Theranos claimed to have a technology that could make blood tests readily available and less costly and intrusive. The claims were fraudulent. Holmes is in jail. The film reveals that Holmes professed an outsized interest in improving the world. One might conclude that her \u201chigher\u201d calling was part of why she felt justified in her deception. After all, it was for a good cause. As Nobel Prize-winning economist James Buchanan once noted: \u201c<\/span>The licentious sinners we can control; the saintly ascetics may destroy us.\u201d<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Do people tend to cheat more when they are trying to make money for themselves or when they are trying to advance a charitable cause? Psychologists have experiments that address this question. A participant rolls a dice twenty times. Before each roll, the participant chooses either the number on the top of the dice or […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":112,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[402],"tags":[1000,1121,1122,1126,1125,47,1124,1109,1108,1123],"class_list":["post-111","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-research","tag-charity","tag-cheat","tag-dice","tag-elizabeth-holmes","tag-experiment","tag-james-buchanan","tag-lucky","tag-psychologist","tag-psychology","tag-rolls"],"yoast_head":"\nCheating for a Cause \u2013 by Dr. Cecil Bohanon and Dr. John Horowitz - Econ Briefs<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/people.bsu.edu\/econbriefs\/2025\/06\/03\/cheating-for-a-cause-by-dr-cecil-bohanon-and-dr-john-horowitz\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cheating for a Cause \u2013 by Dr. Cecil Bohanon and Dr. John Horowitz - Econ Briefs\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Do people tend to cheat more when they are trying to make money for themselves or when they are trying to advance a charitable cause? Psychologists have experiments that address this question. A participant rolls a dice twenty times. Before each roll, the participant chooses either the number on the top of the dice or […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/people.bsu.edu\/econbriefs\/2025\/06\/03\/cheating-for-a-cause-by-dr-cecil-bohanon-and-dr-john-horowitz\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Econ Briefs\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-06-03T18:11:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"christianhartselle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"christianhartselle\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/people.bsu.edu\\\/econbriefs\\\/2025\\\/06\\\/03\\\/cheating-for-a-cause-by-dr-cecil-bohanon-and-dr-john-horowitz\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/people.bsu.edu\\\/econbriefs\\\/2025\\\/06\\\/03\\\/cheating-for-a-cause-by-dr-cecil-bohanon-and-dr-john-horowitz\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"christianhartselle\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/people.bsu.edu\\\/econbriefs\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/53f4e0b981fd42f34cbb306b9ad62622\"},\"headline\":\"Cheating for a Cause \u2013 by Dr. Cecil Bohanon and Dr. John Horowitz\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-06-03T18:11:11+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/people.bsu.edu\\\/econbriefs\\\/2025\\\/06\\\/03\\\/cheating-for-a-cause-by-dr-cecil-bohanon-and-dr-john-horowitz\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":390,\"commentCount\":0,\"keywords\":[\"charity\",\"cheat\",\"dice\",\"Elizabeth Holmes\",\"experiment\",\"James Buchanan\",\"lucky\",\"psychologist\",\"psychology\",\"rolls\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Research\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/people.bsu.edu\\\/econbriefs\\\/2025\\\/06\\\/03\\\/cheating-for-a-cause-by-dr-cecil-bohanon-and-dr-john-horowitz\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/people.bsu.edu\\\/econbriefs\\\/2025\\\/06\\\/03\\\/cheating-for-a-cause-by-dr-cecil-bohanon-and-dr-john-horowitz\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/people.bsu.edu\\\/econbriefs\\\/2025\\\/06\\\/03\\\/cheating-for-a-cause-by-dr-cecil-bohanon-and-dr-john-horowitz\\\/\",\"name\":\"Cheating for a Cause \u2013 by Dr. Cecil Bohanon and Dr. John Horowitz - Econ Briefs\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/people.bsu.edu\\\/econbriefs\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-06-03T18:11:11+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/people.bsu.edu\\\/econbriefs\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/53f4e0b981fd42f34cbb306b9ad62622\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/people.bsu.edu\\\/econbriefs\\\/2025\\\/06\\\/03\\\/cheating-for-a-cause-by-dr-cecil-bohanon-and-dr-john-horowitz\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/people.bsu.edu\\\/econbriefs\\\/2025\\\/06\\\/03\\\/cheating-for-a-cause-by-dr-cecil-bohanon-and-dr-john-horowitz\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/people.bsu.edu\\\/econbriefs\\\/2025\\\/06\\\/03\\\/cheating-for-a-cause-by-dr-cecil-bohanon-and-dr-john-horowitz\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/people.bsu.edu\\\/econbriefs\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Cheating for a Cause \u2013 by Dr. Cecil Bohanon and Dr. John Horowitz\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/people.bsu.edu\\\/econbriefs\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/people.bsu.edu\\\/econbriefs\\\/\",\"name\":\"Econ Briefs\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/people.bsu.edu\\\/econbriefs\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/people.bsu.edu\\\/econbriefs\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/53f4e0b981fd42f34cbb306b9ad62622\",\"name\":\"christianhartselle\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/99dffdd2c9bd490eefa22ed0b6d8d8a277b0368e88948df516427d91d6bf8ea5?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/99dffdd2c9bd490eefa22ed0b6d8d8a277b0368e88948df516427d91d6bf8ea5?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/99dffdd2c9bd490eefa22ed0b6d8d8a277b0368e88948df516427d91d6bf8ea5?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"christianhartselle\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/people.bsu.edu\\\/econbriefs\\\/author\\\/christianhartselle\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Cheating for a Cause \u2013 by Dr. Cecil Bohanon and Dr. John Horowitz - Econ Briefs","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/people.bsu.edu\/econbriefs\/2025\/06\/03\/cheating-for-a-cause-by-dr-cecil-bohanon-and-dr-john-horowitz\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Cheating for a Cause \u2013 by Dr. Cecil Bohanon and Dr. John Horowitz - Econ Briefs","og_description":"Do people tend to cheat more when they are trying to make money for themselves or when they are trying to advance a charitable cause? Psychologists have experiments that address this question. A participant rolls a dice twenty times. Before each roll, the participant chooses either the number on the top of the dice or […]","og_url":"https:\/\/people.bsu.edu\/econbriefs\/2025\/06\/03\/cheating-for-a-cause-by-dr-cecil-bohanon-and-dr-john-horowitz\/","og_site_name":"Econ Briefs","article_published_time":"2025-06-03T18:11:11+00:00","author":"christianhartselle","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"christianhartselle","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/people.bsu.edu\/econbriefs\/2025\/06\/03\/cheating-for-a-cause-by-dr-cecil-bohanon-and-dr-john-horowitz\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/people.bsu.edu\/econbriefs\/2025\/06\/03\/cheating-for-a-cause-by-dr-cecil-bohanon-and-dr-john-horowitz\/"},"author":{"name":"christianhartselle","@id":"https:\/\/people.bsu.edu\/econbriefs\/#\/schema\/person\/53f4e0b981fd42f34cbb306b9ad62622"},"headline":"Cheating for a Cause \u2013 by Dr. Cecil Bohanon and Dr. John Horowitz","datePublished":"2025-06-03T18:11:11+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/people.bsu.edu\/econbriefs\/2025\/06\/03\/cheating-for-a-cause-by-dr-cecil-bohanon-and-dr-john-horowitz\/"},"wordCount":390,"commentCount":0,"keywords":["charity","cheat","dice","Elizabeth Holmes","experiment","James Buchanan","lucky","psychologist","psychology","rolls"],"articleSection":["Research"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/people.bsu.edu\/econbriefs\/2025\/06\/03\/cheating-for-a-cause-by-dr-cecil-bohanon-and-dr-john-horowitz\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/people.bsu.edu\/econbriefs\/2025\/06\/03\/cheating-for-a-cause-by-dr-cecil-bohanon-and-dr-john-horowitz\/","url":"https:\/\/people.bsu.edu\/econbriefs\/2025\/06\/03\/cheating-for-a-cause-by-dr-cecil-bohanon-and-dr-john-horowitz\/","name":"Cheating for a Cause \u2013 by Dr. Cecil Bohanon and Dr. John Horowitz - Econ Briefs","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/people.bsu.edu\/econbriefs\/#website"},"datePublished":"2025-06-03T18:11:11+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/people.bsu.edu\/econbriefs\/#\/schema\/person\/53f4e0b981fd42f34cbb306b9ad62622"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/people.bsu.edu\/econbriefs\/2025\/06\/03\/cheating-for-a-cause-by-dr-cecil-bohanon-and-dr-john-horowitz\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/people.bsu.edu\/econbriefs\/2025\/06\/03\/cheating-for-a-cause-by-dr-cecil-bohanon-and-dr-john-horowitz\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/people.bsu.edu\/econbriefs\/2025\/06\/03\/cheating-for-a-cause-by-dr-cecil-bohanon-and-dr-john-horowitz\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/people.bsu.edu\/econbriefs\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Cheating for a Cause \u2013 by Dr. Cecil Bohanon and Dr. John Horowitz"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/people.bsu.edu\/econbriefs\/#website","url":"https:\/\/people.bsu.edu\/econbriefs\/","name":"Econ Briefs","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/people.bsu.edu\/econbriefs\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/people.bsu.edu\/econbriefs\/#\/schema\/person\/53f4e0b981fd42f34cbb306b9ad62622","name":"christianhartselle","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/99dffdd2c9bd490eefa22ed0b6d8d8a277b0368e88948df516427d91d6bf8ea5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/99dffdd2c9bd490eefa22ed0b6d8d8a277b0368e88948df516427d91d6bf8ea5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/99dffdd2c9bd490eefa22ed0b6d8d8a277b0368e88948df516427d91d6bf8ea5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"christianhartselle"},"url":"https:\/\/people.bsu.edu\/econbriefs\/author\/christianhartselle\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.bsu.edu\/econbriefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.bsu.edu\/econbriefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.bsu.edu\/econbriefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/people.bsu.edu\/econbriefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/112"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/people.bsu.edu\/econbriefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/people.bsu.edu\/econbriefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.bsu.edu\/econbriefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/people.bsu.edu\/econbriefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/people.bsu.edu\/econbriefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}