Everybody lies, but the degree of dishonesty can differ among countries.
The study conducted by the University of East Anglia led by Dr David Hugh-Jones measured the level of honesty among residents of different nations and found out that even if all of them have been dishonest at some point, some countries may be more dishonest than the others.
For the research participated by more than 1,000 people in 15 countries, the team conducted two online experiments, each of which has its own incentive scheme. In the first experiment, which is the flipping of a coin, participants had to report whether they're getting heads or tails worth $3 and $5. If the proportion for both faces is over 50%, then there's cheating involved.
In the second experiment, the participants had to guess the answers in a music quiz, of which three were designed to be incredibly difficult. Since participants were not allowed to research through the Internet-and they had to tick a box to agree with the condition-getting two answers right could also be a sign of dishonesty.
The participants were also asked to rate the level of honesty among other countries based on the flip-coin test.
Overall, UK scored the lowest in dishonesty at 3.4% during the flip-coin test while the most dishonest was China at more than 65%. On the other hand, Japan was the most honest in the music quiz while Turkey was the least.
Participants, interestingly, scored their compatriots the least in honesty, which means there's a level of distrust among fellow citizens. However, their scores for other countries do not reflect the reality. For example, they viewed Asians the most dishonest during the flip-coin test although the actual results revealed they were some of the least dishonest, especially Japan.
The study went on to associate honesty and economic development, and they discovered that although there's still a link, it's getting weaker. This simply means the old idea that poor countries are usually dishonest has very little evidence.
For more of the study, click here.
