天气和空气污染对诚信行为的影响:一项校园丢钱包的现场实验

The influence of weather and air pollution on honest behavior:A field experiment about lost wallets on campus

本文通过两个研究探讨天气状况和空气污染对诚信行为的影响。研究1通过重新分析Cohn,Maréchal,Tannenbaum和Zünd(2019)在全球范围内对诚信行为的研究数据,发现了天气状况和空气污染对诚信行为的影响;研究2通过准实验的研究方法,在3所高校进行了丢钱包的实验并记录当天天气和空气污染状况。两项研究共同表明:(1)在非晴朗的天气下,人们会做出更多的不诚信行为;(2)空气污染越严重,人们越有可能出现不诚信的行为。

Honest behavior is a fundamental aspect of economic and social life.Although many countries have been committed to promoting civil honesty,there are still many dishonest behaviors that act as barriers to the development of society,such as broken promises,unenforced contracts and corrupt governments.In recent years,much research has been performed on the factors influencing people’s honest behaviors,such as social norms and emotions;however,these factors do not exist every time.The purpose of the current research was to explore how weather and air pollution influence honest behavior.We hypothesized that sunny weather would increase people’s honest behavior.In contrast,we hypothesized that air pollution would promote dishonest behavior.Two studies were conducted to test the hypotheses.In Study 1,we used second-hand experimental data published online.Cohn,Marécha,Tannenbaum and Zünd conducted field experiments to test the relationship between civil honesty and money worldwide,and the research was published in Science in 2019.They measured whether recipients contacted owners to return wallets.Weather and air pollution data,however,were not analyzed in their research.Considering the availability and different standards of many countries’air pollution data,we used Chinese and American experimental data(N=1400)and corresponding weather and air quality indexes to test the hypotheses.In Study 2,we used a quasi experiment to test the influence of weather and air pollution on honest behavior.We randomly left campus cards and money in classrooms before class and recorded the weather and air pollution conditions at three Chinese universities(N=407).In addition,we used whether recipients took the campus card or money as an indicator of honest behavior.Moreover,different kinds of classes were included in this study since previous research indicated that different classes might affect students’honest behavior.The results of Study 1 indicated that participants were more likely to contact the owner to return the walletduring sunny weather than during cloudy weather. In addition, air pollution also affected the participants’ honestbehavior. The results indicated that the more serious the air pollution was, the less likely it was that peoplewould voluntarily return the wallets. Study 2 further replicated this result and suggested that participants weremore likely to take the campus card or money under cloudy weather and air pollution conditions. There was nosignificant difference among the classes in terms of honest behavior in this study. In conclusion, sunny weatherpromotes honest behavior, but air pollution reduces honest behavior.