The Influence of Personality on the Decision to Cheat

Faculty versus students: different perceptions of misconducts at university

Introduction

Academic integrity is a goal to be achieved by university institutions, and student academic behavioral misconduct is a phenomenon to be fought and eradicated. Two of the main problems faced by universities in this area are: (1) the lack of consensus among students and faculty on the seriousness of acts considered academic misconduct; and (2) the difficulty of noticing and controlling certain student behaviors. The main aim of this paper is to assess the importance of these two problems.

Methods

For this purpose, the authors compare, on the one hand, students' and teachers' perceptions of the seriousness of different types of dishonest and inappropriate behaviors and, on the other hand, the frequency with which they report that these misconducts occur. Two samples were taken from the responses of students and teachers of the Economics and Business School of the University of Zaragoza. The first consisted of 333 students and the second of 72 teachers. The academic misconducts asked about were grouped into three categories: academic works, exams, and interpersonal relationships in the classroom. Nonparametric tests were used to study the significance of the differences observed in the responses of students and teachers.

Results

Results show that the greatest differences in the assessment of the seriousness of academic misconducts are in the group referring to interpersonal relationships. In terms of frequency, the study reveals that there is a serious problem of moral hazard in some of the behaviors analyzed, since the frequency with which teachers notice these practices is lower than that expressed by students.

Discussion

Based on these results, possible measures to be adopted in universities in order to eradicate the academic misconduct problem are discussed.

Guilt, Shame and Academic Misconduct

Moral and self-conscious emotions like guilt and shame can function as internal negative experiences that punish or deter bad behaviour. Individual differences exist in people's tendency to experience guilt and shame. Being disposed to experience guilt and/or shame may predict students' expectations of their emotional reactions to engaging in immoral behaviour in the form of academic misconduct, and thus dissuade students from intending to engage in this behaviour. In this study, students' (n = 459) guilt and shame proneness, their expectations of feeling guilt and shame if they engaged in academic misconduct, and their intentions to engage in academic misconduct were measured. Three of the four facets of the guilt and shame proneness scale [GASP: Guilt-Negative-Behavior-Evaluation (NBE), Guilt-Repair, Shame-Negative-Self-Evaluation (NSE)] had significant negative correlations with academic misconduct intentions, and these relationships were mediated by anticipating shame and guilt related to engaging in academic misconduct. These results suggest that for some students expecting to experience negative moral emotions when engaging in academic misconduct may protect them from breaching ethical assessment rules.

Did the COVID-19 pandemic lead to an increase in academic misconduct in higher education?

The shift to online instruction in higher education related to the COVID-19 pandemic has raised worldwide concerns about an increase in academic misconduct (cheating and plagiarism). However, data to document any increase is sparse. For this study, we collected survey data from 484 students in 11 universities in the USA, and 410 students in five universities in Romania. The data support the conclusions that (1) cheating on exams increased with the shift to online instruction, but plagiarism and cheating on assignments may not have increased, (2) significant differences between the two countries suggest that intervention planning should avoid assuming that results from one context may generalize to another, and (3) influencing student beliefs about rates of AM among their peers may be a fruitful new route for reducing academic misconduct.

The effects of personality traits and attitudes towards the rule on academic dishonesty among university students

Academic dishonesty is becoming a big concern for the education systems worldwide. Despite much research on the factors associated with academic dishonesty and the methods to alleviate it, it remains a common problem at the university level. In the current study, we conducted a survey to link personality traits (using the HEXACO model) and people’s general attitudes towards the rule (i.e., “rule conditionality” and “perceived obligation to obey the law/rule”) to academic dishonesty among 370 university students. Using correlational analysis and structural equation modeling, the results indicated that both personality traits and attitudes towards the rule significantly predicted academic misconduct. The findings have important implications for researchers and university educators in dealing with academic misconduct.

Fatherhood Is Associated with Increased Infidelity and Moderates the Link between Relationship Satisfaction and Infidelity

Background: Relationship satisfaction has been identified as an important factor in terms of extradyadic sexual involvement. However, in men, fatherhood might be associated with infidelity by leading to changes in relationship satisfaction and the social life of parents. To date, no study has focused on the association of fatherhood and infidelity, nor the influence of fatherhood on the association between relationship satisfaction and infidelity. Methods: Using a cross-sectional design, 137 fathers and 116 non-fathers were assessed regarding relationship satisfaction, infidelity, and potential confounds. Results: Significantly more fathers reported having been unfaithful in the current relationship than non-fathers (30.7% vs. 17.2%). Fathers also reported longer relationship duration, higher relationship satisfaction, and lower neuroticism than non-fathers. Furthermore, fatherhood moderated the association between relationship satisfaction and infidelity insofar that only in non-fathers reduced relationship satisfaction was associated with infidelity. Conclusions: The results suggest that fatherhood increases the risk of engaging in extradyadic sexual activities and moderates the link between relationship satisfaction and infidelity. However, results need to be interpreted with caution due to the cross-sectional study design and the lack of information about the specific time point of the infidelity incident(s).

Making Professional Decisions in Research: Measurement and Key Predictors

The professional decision-making in research (PDR) measure was administered to 400 National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded and industry-funded investigators, along with measures of cynicism, moral disengagement, compliance disengagement, impulsivity, work stressors, knowledge of responsible conduct of research (RCR), and socially desirable response tendencies. Negative associations were found for the PDR and measures of cynicism, moral disengagement, and compliance disengagement, while positive associations were found for the PDR and RCR knowledge and positive urgency, an impulsivity subscale. PDR scores were not related to socially desirable responding, or to measures of work stressors and the remaining impulsivity subscales. In a multivariate logistic regression analysis, lower moral disengagement scores, higher RCR knowledge, and identifying the United States as one's nation of origin emerged as key predictors of stronger performance on the PDR. The implications of these findings for understanding the measurement of decision-making in research and future directions for research and RCR education are discussed.