The effects of self-control and social influence on academic dishonesty: an experimental and correlational investigation

Download
2010
Coşkan, Canan
The present study aimed to integrate situational and dispositional perspectives on the investigation of unethical and dishonest behavior through an experimental and a correlational study. More explicitly, the current study explored the effects of state self-control and social influence on cheating, and investigated the trait self control and conformity as predictors of academic dishonesty. Two preliminary studies were conducted. First, a pilot study with 230 undergraduate students was conducted to assess the reliability of the Turkish versions of the four scales intended to measure the constructs of interest. All four scales were found to have sufficient reliabilities. A second preliminary study was conducted to observe and to ameliorate the effects of two manipulations constructed for the main study, namely the rewriting task (depletory versus neutral) and the norm induction (deciding to cheat, not to cheat or to meet with a friend after the study). The main study was conducted with 87 undergraduate students. Correlational results underlined the importance of low self-control and high susceptibility to social influence as predictors of past behavior of academic dishonesty. Experimental results revealed that first, groups‟ cheating levels and cheater frequencies did not differ as a function of ego depletion while they differed as a function of norm induction in that „cheat‟ norm groups had higher levels of cheating and higher frequencies of cheaters than „not cheat‟ and neutral norm groups had. The implications of the study for theory, practice, and future research are discussed.

Suggestions

Effects of ambivalent sexism, locus of control, empathy, and belief in a just world on attitudes toward rape victims
Yalçın, Zeynep Sıla; Sakallı Uğurlu, Nuray; Department of Psychology (2006)
The aim of this present study was to investigate the effects of ambivalent sexism, locus of control, empathy and belief in a just world on attitudes toward rape victims. In order to do so, 425 graduate and undergraduate students at Middle East Technical University participated in the current study. The results of the study indicated that hostile sexism (β = .47), empathy (β = -.28), education (β= -.22), internal locus of control (β = .10), belief in a just world (β = .10), benevolent sexism (β = .10) and in...
The Role of emotions and emotion regulation in the system justification process
Solak, Nevin; Sümer, Nebi; Jost, John T.; Department of Psychology (2015)
The studies of emotions and emotion regulation from the social psychological perspective have been dominated by two general approaches, namely, individual and group-based research perspectives (e.g., Frijda, 1986; Gross, 2014; Halperin, 2014; Smith, Seger, & Mackie, 2007). Considering that emotions cannot only be limited to the individual- and the group-level contexts, the system-level dynamics (Stangor & Jost, 1997) should be examined to better understand their impacts on both individual and society. Drawi...
Underlying mechanisms of memory distrust as a function of repeated checking in nonclinical student sample
Demirsöz, Talat; Ayvaşık, H. Belgin; Department of Psychology (2007)
The purpose of the present study was to examine the underlying mechanism of memory distrust as a function of repeated checking in a nonclinical student sample. Recent literature proposes that repeated checking increases familiarity with the material checked. Then, familiarity makes the recollections less vivid and detailed. Afterwards, this condition promotes distrust in memory. Before the experimental phase of the study, Padua Inventory- Washington State University Revision (PI-WSUR) and demographic inform...
Associations of psychological problems with parental acceptance-rejection, social support, and locus of control: a study conducted with adolescents
Büyükaşık Çolak, Canan; Gençöz, Tülin; Department of Psychology (2010)
The aim of the present study was to examine the associations between demographic variables, parental acceptance-rejection (PAR), social support (SS), locus of control (LC), and psychological problems with adolescents. The study consisted of 375 high school students (215 females and 160 males) from three different high schools in Ankara whose age range between 14-18. Furthermore, 134 of students’ both parents, 18 of students’ only mothers, and 5 of students’ only fathers participated into the study. A questi...
The Effect of locus of control and attribution processes on coping style of victims of mobbing
Yıkılmaz, Kübra; Sümer, Hayriye Canan; Department of Psychology (2013)
The aim of the present study was to investigate factors that determine the coping styles used by victims of mobbing. The variables used were locus of control and attribution style, which was further differentiated as attributing the reason of mobbing to the self, perpetrator, or organization. The outcome variable was coping strategies classified as problem focused and emotion focused coping style. Hundred and sixty victims of mobbing participated in the study. The results showed that locus of control of vic...
Citation Formats
C. Coşkan, “The effects of self-control and social influence on academic dishonesty: an experimental and correlational investigation,” M.S. - Master of Science, Middle East Technical University, 2010.