Date of Completion
5-6-2011
Degree Type
Honors Thesis - Campus Access
Discipline
Psychology (PSYC)
First Advisor
Larry Bernard, Ph.D.
Abstract
Previous research has identified psychopathy as an important predictor of academic cheating (Williams, D. Nathanson, & Paulhus, 2010). This study further examines this relationship by introducing a new "cooperative" cheating scale and also tests the predictive ability of evolved individual differences in motivation, specifically the Aggression, Threat Avoidance, Mental, and Social Exchange motives. (Bernard, in press). The researchers administered online questionnaires to college students and to their recruits to assess the predictors and both "selfish" and "cooperative" cheating. The cheating scales were highly correlated, suggesting that these two variables are not distinct. Only psychopathy and the Social Exchange motive remained significant in a multiple regression, although Aggression and Threat Avoidance were related to cheating. The benefits of using Social Exchange as a predictor are discussed.
Recommended Citation
Mitch, Nathan, "Academic Cheaters: Associations of Evolved Motivations, Psychopathy and Cooperative and Self-Serving Cheating" (2011). Honors Thesis. 21.
https://digitalcommons.lmu.edu/honors-thesis/21
