The Ergonomics of Dishonesty: The Effect of Incidental Posture on Stealing, Cheating, and Traffic Violations

Research in environmental sciences has found that the ergonomic design of human-made environments influences thought, feeling, and action. In the research reported here, we examined the impact of physical environments on dishonest behavior. In four studies, we tested whether certain bodily configura...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Psychological science 2013-11, Vol.24 (11), p.2281-2289
Main Authors: Yap, Andy J., Wazlawek, Abbie S., Lucas, Brian J., Cuddy, Amy J. C., Carney, Dana R.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Automobile Driving - psychology
Biological and medical sciences
Deception
Design
Dishonesty
Embodiment
Emotions
Environmental effects
Environmental science
Ergonomics
Ergonomics - psychology
Female
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Humans
Male
Morality
Posture
Posture - physiology
Power
Power (Psychology)
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Random Allocation
Simulation
Single-Blind Method
Social Behavior
Social behaviour
Social interactions. Communication. Group processes
Social psychology
Social structure
Theft - psychology
Young Adult
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Summary:Research in environmental sciences has found that the ergonomic design of human-made environments influences thought, feeling, and action. In the research reported here, we examined the impact of physical environments on dishonest behavior. In four studies, we tested whether certain bodily configurations—or postures—incidentally imposed by the environment led to increases in dishonest behavior. The first three experiments showed that individuals who assumed expansive postures (either consciously or inadvertently) were more likely to steal money, cheat on a test, and commit traffic violations in a driving simulation. Results suggested that participants' self-reported sense of power mediated the link between postural expansiveness and dishonesty. Study 4 revealed that automobiles with more expansive driver's seats were more likely to be illegally parked on New York City streets. Taken together, the results suggest that, first, environments that expand the body can inadvertently lead people to feel more powerful, and second, these feelings of power can cause dishonest behavior.
ISSN:0956-7976
1467-9280
DOI:10.1177/0956797613492425