Loss framing increases self-serving mistakes (but does not alter attention)

Abstract

In ambiguous settings, people are tempted to make self-serving mistakes. Here, we assess whether people make more self-serving mistakes to minimize losses compared with maximize gains. Results reveal that participants are twice as likely to make self-serving mistakes to reduce losses compared to increase gains. We further trace participants' eye movements to gain insight into the process underlying self-serving mistakes in losses and gains. We find that tempting, self-serving information does not capture more attention in loss, compared to gain framing. Rather, in loss framing, people are more likely to report the tempting, self-serving information they observed. The results imply that rather than diverting attention away from tempting information, reducing people's motivation to make self-serving mistakes, and framing goals as gains rather than losses are promising ways to decrease the occurrence of self-serving mistakes. In turn, this fosters environments with more accuracy and fewer motivated mistakes.

Honest mistake or perhaps not: The role of descriptive and injunctive norms on the magnitude of dishonesty

“…To test this hypothesis, we estimated the ratio of self‐serving (i.e., asking for extra points in easy rounds) to self‐hurting (i.e., not asking for extra points in difficult rounds) errors. Similar to a previous study (Hochman et al, 2016; Leib et al, 2019), we observed that in both experiments, self‐serving errors were committed approximately twice as frequently as self‐hurting errors. This finding indicates that at least a portion of the rule violations reflects either conscious or unconscious self‐serving biases.…”

“…Previous studies have shown that people make more self‐serving than self‐hurting errors (Hochman, Glockner, Fiedler, & Ayal, 2016; Leib, Pittarello, Gordon‐Hecker, Shalvi, & Roskes, 2019). This increased frequency of self‐serving errors has been explained as dishonest behavior aiming at maximizing profit (Hochman et al, 2016; Leib et al, 2019). In the present study, we operationalized the act of asking for extra points in easy rounds as self‐serving errors, whereas the decision not to ask for extra points in difficult rounds was considered as a self‐hurting error.…”

“…Previous studies have shown that people make more self-serving than self-hurting errors (Hochman, Glockner, Fiedler, & Ayal, 2016;Leib, Pittarello, Gordon-Hecker, Shalvi, & Roskes, 2019). This increased frequency of self-serving errors has been explained as dishonest behavior aiming at maximizing profit (Hochman et al, 2016; F I G U R E 2 Frequency of no, minor, and major rule violations in easy rounds for Block 1 (dark gray) and Block 2 (light gray) depicted separately for the neutral, negative, and negative and injunctive group.…”

“…This increased frequency of self-serving errors has been explained as dishonest behavior aiming at maximizing profit (Hochman et al, 2016; F I G U R E 2 Frequency of no, minor, and major rule violations in easy rounds for Block 1 (dark gray) and Block 2 (light gray) depicted separately for the neutral, negative, and negative and injunctive group. Error bars represent standard errors of the mean F I G U R E 3 Percent of participants per group who increased (light gray) or not (dark gray) the magnitude and frequency of rule violations from Block 1 to Block 2 depicted separately for the neutral, negative, and negative and injunctive group Leib et al, 2019). In the present study, we operationalized the act of asking for extra points in easy rounds as self-serving errors, whereas the decision not to ask for extra points in difficult rounds was considered as a self-hurting error.…”

Is it all about appearance? Limited cognitive control and information advantage reveal self-serving reciprocity

“…Yet, the notion that behaviors aimed at maintatining economic self-intrest require cognitive control seems to contradict findings from the vast research on unethical decisions. This body of literature has repeatedly demonstrated that unethical behavior is prevalent when people can benefit from it (Ayal et al, 2015;Ayal & Gino, 2012;Barkan et al, 2015;Bazerman & Banaji, 2004;Bazerman & Gino, 2012;FeldmanHall et al, 2012;Haran, 2013;Leib, Moran, et al, 2019;Leib, Pittarello, et al, 2019;Schurr & Ritov, 2016;Shalvi et al, 2011Shalvi et al, , 2015.…”