Lying (non-)parents: Being a parent does not reduce dishonesty

Abstract

Many studies point to how parenthood can affect behavior. Here, we provide a large-sample (N = 2,008) analysis of whether people with children are less likely to cheat in a private die-rolling task. Our findings suggest that both parents and non-parents lie and do so to a similar extent. However, when parents are reminded of their children prior to the task, they lie less compared to a treatment without a reminder.