The vast majority of theses in this collection are open access and freely available. There are a small number of theses that have access restricted to the WWU campus. For off-campus access to a thesis labeled "Campus Only Access," please log in here with your WWU universal ID, or talk to your librarian about requesting the restricted thesis through interlibrary loan.

Date Permissions Signed

7-13-2015

Date of Award

Summer 2015

Document Type

Masters Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Lemm, Kristi M., 1971-

Second Advisor

Czopp, Alex

Third Advisor

Devenport, Jennifer

Abstract

A recent survey demonstrated that over 80% of students admitted to having engaged in academic dishonesty at least once in their time at University (Macaulay & Lemm, 2014). Previous research examining why students cheat has brought to light many different potential reasons behind students’ academically dishonest behavior (McCabe, Trevino, & Butterfield, 1999; Curasi, 2013). The present set of studies aimed to examine three potential factors behind why students engage in academic dishonesty. Study 1 examined whether or not high Socioeconomic Status (SES) primes would elicit higher cheating likelihood ratings in a hypothetical scenario. Study 2 examined whether high levels of academic stress and job pressure would increase participants’ cheating likelihood ratings. Further, Study 2 also examined whether participants would perceive a cheating action as less morally wrong when it was committed under academic stress or job pressure in comparison to no stress or pressure. Results indicated that SES priming had no effect on cheating likelihood. Both academic stress and job pressure predicted increased cheating likelihood ratings in different samples. The relation between academic stress and cheating likelihood ratings was mediated by moral appraisal. The results support the idea that justification of unethical behavior predicts increased cheating likelihood. Future research will focus on applying these results to prevention of academic dishonesty.

Type

Text

DOI

https://doi.org/10.25710/3evx-wb14

Publisher

Western Washington University

OCLC Number

914235728

Subject – LCSH

Cheating (Education)--United States; College students--Economic conditions; College students--Social conditions; College students--Effect of stress on; College students--United States--Conduct of life; College students--United States--Attitudes

Geographic Coverage

United States

Format

application/pdf

Genre/Form

masters theses

Language

English

Rights

Copying of this document in whole or in part is allowable only for scholarly purposes. It is understood, however, that any copying or publication of this thesis for commercial purposes, or for financial gain, shall not be allowed without the author's written permission.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Download

Included in

Psychology Commons

Share

COinS