Creative Thinkers Are More Likely To Cheat According To Researchers

This interesting study has been conducted on 97 different university students. The study sought to determine if creative thinkers were more likely to cheat than those that were less creative. The reason for the creative types to be more likely to cheat according to those that ran the study is simply because the more creative participants were able to justify their actions.

The study took the 97 participants and had them take standardized psychological tests to determine creativity and then take five different experiments. The experiments were to determine how creative people are more likely to cheat under circumstances where they can justify dishonest behavior. One of the experiments had participants looking at a drawing that had dots on each side of a line to determine which side had more dots.

The catch was that it was virtually impossible to tell which side had the most dots. The students were told that for each right side answer they would receive ten times as much money as left side answers. Those that had scored the highest on the creativity testing were more likely to have given answers that paid more. Another of the tests had supposedly correct answers lightly marked on an answer sheet by mistake and the participants were promised more money for correct answers. The creative thinkers were again more likely to bubble the supposedly correct answers.

[via Yahoo News]