This experiment does not prove that money keeps people more honest than absence of money, but more honest than token exchangeable for money. If a control group was allowed to cheat without receiving money at all they might (my prediction and I would bet a dollar on it if I didn’t use Euros) cheat even less. Then, the hypothesis “money keeps us honest” would be disproved.
I think I remember described set of experiments correctly and at least in some of them control group was definitely allowed to cheat—there were no difference in the way people turned in their results (shredding questionare and submitting only purported result on different sheet)
This experiment does not prove that money keeps people more honest than absence of money, but more honest than token exchangeable for money. If a control group was allowed to cheat without receiving money at all they might (my prediction and I would bet a dollar on it if I didn’t use Euros) cheat even less. Then, the hypothesis “money keeps us honest” would be disproved.
I think I remember described set of experiments correctly and at least in some of them control group was definitely allowed to cheat—there were no difference in the way people turned in their results (shredding questionare and submitting only purported result on different sheet)