Graduation Semester and Year
Spring 2025
Language
English
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts in Sociology
Department
Sociology and Anthropology
First Advisor
Dr. Kelly Bergstrand
Second Advisor
Dr. Robert Kunovich
Third Advisor
Dr. Alma Garza
Abstract
I used an experimental design to investigate the social influences on the frequency of participant dishonesty. While using an established design, I incorporated the social variables of inequality and exchange to test their relationship with the frequency of cheating behavior, as well as three intervening attitudinal variables of frustration, justification, and solidarity. In this study, in sharp contrast with published economic studies, no cheating behavior was observed. However, significant relationships were observed between participant attitudes, demographic information, and experimental conditions. In my analysis, I focus on three of these, looking at what future research might be possible to further investigate their implications. First, I found a positive relationship between inequality and solidarity for younger participants. Second, there was a was a positive relationship between reciprocal exchange and frustration for younger participants. Third, there was a significant relationship between advantaged and disadvantaged positionality and solidarity among participating women. The limited nature of this study means that all findings are only preliminary and will require additional study. However, these could give insight to activism among young individuals and help to explain the debated phenomena of “pulling up the ladder” described by some studies on third-wave feminism.
Keywords
Sociology, Social psychology, Economcis, Cheating, Cheating games, Lying, Game theory
Disciplines
Sociology
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Recommended Citation
Emerick, Anthony J., "Randomized Participant Compensation: An Early Investigation into Social Influence in Cheating Games" (2025). Sociology & Anthropology Theses. 94.
https://mavmatrix.uta.edu/sociologyanthropology_theses/94