Church goers more likely to steal newspapers

[moobu2]

In the province of Vorarlberg, in the west of Austria, newspapers are often sold though a sales booths. It's an honesty system - anyone can take the newspapers, but the publisher asks for a payment of 60 Eurocents.

You can see the set up in the picture. The newspapers go in the pouch are the bottom, and above it (on the black button) is a slot for you to put your money in. You're free to give as much (or as little) as you like.

Now this is a fantastic arrangement for a real-world test of honesty. Two Austrian economic scientists (Gerald Pruckner at the University of Linz and Rupert Sausgruber at the University of Innsbruck) decided to take up the challenge (see here for the full report).

What they did was very simple. They emptied the cashbox and put one paper in the bag. Then they waited for someone to take the paper. They discretely followed that person and, when there was enough distance, they popped up and pretended to be interviewing random passers buy on "social behaviour in society".


LINK




<snip>

Why are church goers so dishonest? It's a question that seems to have stumped the two researchers. The study was done on Sunday, and they suggest that maybe church goers had donated their loose change already. But this doesn't explain why they should feel justified in pinching a newspaper.

Perhaps we shouldn't be too surprised. Previous research has shown that people who have a sense of their own moral righteousness are in fact more likely to cheat. This is presumably because they convince themselves that they are cheating for the greater good. So maybe these churchgoers feel that they have donated money to the church, and that this somehow justifies their their dishonesty.

[Whoa_Nelly]

1. Church goers more likely to steal newspapers

Funniest headline have read today :rofl:

[LeftyMom]

2. Doesn't that just mean that petty thieves are more likely to say they go to church?

Hardly means they actually do it. If you asked, they'd probably say they pay full price for newspapers, too.

[moobu2]

8. It could mean that dishonest people turn to church out of some deep guilt

as a result of them being dishonest, I dont know. I wish there were more studies in this area.

[struggle4progress]

3. The link (at Epiphenom to SSRN) produces a site from which I am unable

to download "Honesty on the Streets - A Natural Field Experiment on Newspaper Purchasing" but the paper is available as pdf here: http://ideas.repec.org/p/kud/kuiedp/0601.html

The publisher has been using the honor system for about thirty years and has not monitored whether people pay or not for perhaps the last twenty-five years; it is against the law to steal newspapers, but the publisher has not prosecuted non-payment for decades. The field study, conducted on weekdays in one town, is based on 120 newspapers and indicated payment in 41 cases (that is, about a third of the time); in the survey, using the Sunday paper in four towns, 215 people (of the 402, who had taken a paper) agreed to an interview. Correlation coefficients are reported for a regression analysis, conducted for a list of variables

So, do 66% of people steal papers -- or only 40%? That's quite a range

[Sherman A1]

4. Great Chart... Thanks!

Thanks for posting.

[safeinOhio]

5. Hah, I only steal them on the way home from church.

[liberal N proud]

6. Tho shalt not steal... Unless it is a news paper

[Donnachaidh]

7. Confession at church costs nothing

So if you steal a paper on the way to confession, it's a win/win situation!

[cosmik debris]

9. Perhaps they have a greater need. n/t

[Occam Bandage]

10. Er, actually, that study suggests paper thieves are more likely to be churchgoers,

and not the other way around (or, at any rate, that they are more likely to claim they go to church). The study looked at newspaper thieves, and asked things about them; it did not look at churchgoers in general.

[ZombieHorde]

11. Perhaps the easiest time to steal a newspaper is Sunday morning. nt

[billiefan2000]

12. if that is true...

that means my deadbeat customers on my routes

are all church-goers


LOL