Picture this: you’re working a slow shift in a hotel lobby when someone hurriedly approaches the front desk. They found a lost wallet around the corner, but they’re in a rush and don’t have time to follow up. They ask if you can handle it and then run off. Looking at the wallet you see it contains a key, a grocery list, about $13, and three business cards with a name and email you assume belong to the wallet’s owner. So, what do you do?
想象一下:你在酒店大堂无聊得值班 突然有人匆忙的来到前台。 他在角落见到了一个钱包, 但他在赶时间,没办法跟进, 他请你处理这件事并迅速跑走。 当查看时,你发现钱包里有 一把钥匙,一张购物清单, 大概 13 美元的现金, 以及三张写有姓名及邮箱的名片 你猜测这些名片是钱包主人的。 那么你会怎么做呢?
Between 2013 and 2016, over 17,000 front-desk workers around the globe were faced with this choice, becoming unwitting participants in a massive study of honesty. And the results surprised top economists and the researchers running the experiment. But to understand what these groups were expecting, we need to spend a little time defining honesty.
在 2013 至 2016 年期间, 全球超过 17000 名前台工作人员 都面临着这个选择, 他们都是一场大规模 关于诚信的研究 不知情的参与者。 测试结果却令进行实验的 资深的经济学家 及研究者感到惊讶。 为了了解对实验的期望, 我们需要花点时间 明白诚信的定义。
We typically think of honesty in terms of actively telling the truth in our interpersonal relationships. But in fact, every healthy society relies on a shared foundation of honesty. Using public services, making business transactions, and deciding government policies requires a baseline expectation of honesty from our fellow citizens. Because of this, understanding what drives honesty is a vital research subject for economists, psychologists, and sociologists. Unfortunately, honesty can be difficult to investigate when people know they’re being watched. So, researchers have come up with clever ways to analyze this behavior outside the lab. And this global study by the universities of Michigan, Utah, and Zurich sought to answer an important question: will people engage in opportunistic behavior when there’s little-to-no chance of being caught?
一般来讲,我们认为诚信 是在人与人关系中 积极的讲述真相。 但事实上,健康的社会取决于 享有稳固的诚信基础。 使用公共服务,进行商业转账, 以及政府政策的决策 都要求我们的市民 对诚信有基线预期。 由此,推动诚信的来源 对于经济学家,心理学家及社会学家来讲 是一项重要的研究对象。 不巧的是当人们意识到 自己是在被观察时 研究者很难去探寻真实的诚信行为。 所以研究人员想到了一种聪明的方式 在实验室外分析诚信的行为。 这个由密歇根,犹他 及苏黎世的大学做的研究 希望找到 一个重要问题的答案: 当人们面临被抓风险几乎为零的情况 人们会选择投机行为吗?
In what became known as the Lost Wallet Test, 13 research assistants traveled to 355 cities in 40 different countries, recreating the same scenario in hotels, banks, public offices, and various cultural establishments. The clear wallets ensured participants could see their contents, half of which contained a key, grocery list, and business cards, while the other half also included the equivalent of roughly 13 US dollars. The researchers believed the money would discourage honesty. Specifically, they thought participants’ self-interest would overpower two competing factors: their altruistic desire not to harm the wallet’s owner, and their desire to maintain a positive self-image. Regarding self-image, we generally like to think of ourselves as good and honest. But studies have found people are often able to let themselves off the hook for stealing small amounts of money. As for harming the wallet's owner, the victim of their crime would be abstract. They'd never met this person, and since the wallet had come from another location, it seemed unlikely they ever would.
这场测试名为丢失钱包测试, 在 40 个不同的国家 355 个城市中, 13 名研究助理在旅店, 银行以及公共办公室以及 不同文化机构中, 重现了同样的场景。 透明的钱包确保 参与者能够看清里面的内容, 一半钱包都放有 一把钥匙,购物清单以及名片, 另外一半的钱包里同时还有 大概价值 13 美元的现金。 学者认为金钱会阻碍诚信。 具体来讲,他们认为 参与者的自身利益 将击败另外两个竞争因素: 他们不希望 伤害钱包主人的利他心理, 以及他们维持积极的 自身形象的期望。 我们大多希望自己拥有 优秀并诚实的形象。 但是研究显示人们经常会 因为小额现金的利益 而脱离维持良好的形象。 至于伤害钱包主人, 由于犯罪的受害人是抽象的。 参与者并不认识钱包主人, 而钱包是从其他地方得来的, 他们大概率永远不会见到钱包主人。
For these reasons, researchers expected money-filled wallets to be reported less often, and the 279 economists they surveyed agreed. But to their surprise, the study found the exact opposite. While only 46% of cash-free wallets were reported, 61% of cash wallets were called in. This pattern held true across the globe, regardless of the participants’ age, gender, or whether they were being observed during the wallet drop-off. And when researchers tried increasing the temptation to be dishonest with wallets containing nearly $100, the results surprised them again. People reported 72% of these big money wallets.
基于以上的这些原因, 学者认为装有现金的钱包 报告挂失的几率会更小, 279 名参与调查的经济学家 也同意此观点。 但出乎意料的, 研究结果竟截然相反。 有 46% 没有装有现金的 钱包报告了挂失, 而装有现金的钱包有 61% 报告挂失。 在全球的调查中, 不论参与者的年龄,性别, 无论他们在拿到钱包时 是否被他人观察 结果都符合同样的规律。 当学者试图用改变钱包中 现金数额至 100 美元 来增加不诚信的诱惑 结果又一次让他们惊讶了。 72% 拿到有大额现金钱包的人 选择报告挂失。
There are a lot of theories for why honesty goes up as the wallet becomes more valuable. The $100 wallet certainly increases self-interest. But in international follow-up surveys, people reported that taking larger sums of money felt more like theft, making it harder to maintain a positive self-image. It’s also possible that when the financial stakes are higher, so is the perceived harm to the wallet’s owner. Others have suggested that our commitment to honesty could be altered in professional settings, meaning participants might have acted differently outside the office.
有许多不同的理论分析 为什么当钱包更值钱时 人们诚信的几率增加了。 100 美元必然增加了个人利益。 但是在国际跟进的问卷调查中显示, 人们觉得持有别人 更大数额钱包时更像是盗窃, 这使人们更难维持良好的自身形象。 另一种可能是当经济持有量变高时, 对钱包主人造成的伤害也同样变高。 还有人认为我们在专业环境下 对于诚信的投入程度有所不同, 参与者在办公室外表现 或许会不一样。
Still, this result suggests that self-interest might not be as powerful as we often think. Seeing yourself as an honest person can motivate you to be an honest person. And by modeling this behavior and celebrating it and others, we can help create an honest society we can all rely on.
即便如此,测试结果显示了 自身利益或许没有 我们想象的那么强大。 认为自己是个诚实的人或许会 激发你诚信的品格。 当我们塑造诚信的行为 并与其他人一同施行, 我们将建造一个 可以信赖依靠的诚信的社会。