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?
想像一下:正值冷清的時段, 你恰好於酒店大廳值班, 有個人匆忙地走來櫃檯。 他說在附近撿到一個遺失的錢包, 但他在趕時間,剛好沒辦法處理。 於是他請你幫忙,然後就離開了。 你檢查時發現裡面有一支鑰匙、 一張購物清單以及 13 美元 還有三張寫有名字及電子郵件的名片。 你猜測都是屬於錢包主人。 接下來,你會怎麼做呢?
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 年 到 2016 年之間, 全球有超過 17000 位櫃台人員 面臨這樣的抉擇。 殊不知他們參與一項 關於誠實的大型研究。 這項研究的結果驚艷了頂尖的經濟學家 及執行實驗的研究人員。 在了解這些人原本預想的結果之前, 我們需要花一點時間來定義誠實。
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?
基本上我們認為誠實是 在人際交流時主動說出實情。 事實上,每個健康的社會都建立在 共享的誠實基礎上。 例如:使用公共設施、進行商業交易, 甚至是制定政府政䇿 都來自公民對誠實有一定的期待。 因此,認識推動誠實背後的因子 成為經濟學家、心理學家 以及社會學家們重要的研究主題。 不幸地是,誠實很難查證, 特別是人們知道自己被監視的時候。 所以研究人員巧妙地想了些方法 以分析在實驗室之外人們的行為。 這個由密西根、猶他以及蘇黎世等大學 進行的全球性研究 試圖回答一個重要的問題: 如果幾乎不可能被逮到, 人們會不會進行投機行為?
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.
這個實驗被稱為「遺失錢包測試」, 13 位研究助理前往 40 個國家裡、共 355 個城市, 在飯店、銀行、政府部門 還有各種文化機構 重建相同的情境。 參與者獲得看得到 內容物的透明錢包。 有一半的錢包裏面有鑰匙、 購物清單、名片; 另一半的錢包裏還裝有 13 美元左右的現金。 研究人員相信有錢的皮包 會讓人不誠實。 明確來說,他們覺得參與者的 自利心理會壓過兩個競爭因素: 不損害錢包主人的利他衝動 以及想要保持個人正面形象的慾望。 說到個人形象,我們通常都自認 自己是個誠實的好人。 但研究發現人們常常會 放縱自己去偷點小錢。 至於損害錢包主人這方面, 這個罪行的受害者身分模糊, 他們沒踫過面,而且錢包是從 別的地方撿到, 感覺他們也不可能會踫面。
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.
基於這些理由,研究人員預期這些 裝錢的皮包比較不會被提報。 而接受調查的 279 位 經濟學家也同意這個論點。 但令他們很吃驚的是, 研究結果恰恰相反: 沒裝錢的皮包只有 46% 被提報, 而裝錢的皮包有 61% 受到回報。 這個模式全球皆然 不論參與者的年齡、性別, 或著在轉交錢包的過程, 他們是否有被監視。 研究人員試著將不實行為的誘惑提高 把錢包裡的錢增加到接近 100 美金。 結果再次令他們驚訝。 72% 的人提報了有大筆錢的錢包。
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.
有好幾個理論可以來解釋 為什麼錢包價值增加, 人們反而變得更誠實。 100 元的錢包當然更有自利價值, 但在後續的跨國調查裡, 人們認為拿走大筆的錢財 比較像偷竊, 因此較難維持正面的個人形象。 也有可能是因為財務利害關係較高, 因此感到對錢包主人的傷害也較大。 也有研究人員指出,我們誠實的程度 可能因職業情境而有所改變。 這意謂著參與者在辦公室外 可能有不同的行為。
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.
這個結果仍然告訴我們: 自利心並不如我們想像地這麼強烈。 看待自己是個誠實的人會 促使你成為誠實的人。 而藉由展示誠實行為、 讚揚誠實的舉動及人, 我們就可以創造足以信賴的誠實社會。