The Look Over Your Shoulder

Two data sets and a corresponding manual for the following project: <br>"Does the mere presence of another person curb unethical behavior? A growing literature on behavioral ethics has repeatedly stressed the important role that ‘others’ play for the emergence of moral and legal transgressions, for example through norms, reputation and social control. Yet, in the clear majority of studies participants made decisions in isolation as no other person was physically present. To understand how the presence of another person influences an individual’s willingness to breach ethical norms, we conducted two experiments in which a second person was present with the participant in the lab. In Study 1, we also investigated the quality of the relationship towards that second person, either being a stranger vs. a well-known friend. In Study 2, we examined the effects of whether the other person had a stake in the decision of the participant: benefitting from cheating vs. not. Using two different paradigms to study unethical behavior, we obtain two main results: first, the mere presence of another person curbs levels of corruption and cheating, and second, neither the relationship towards that other nor the outcome structure matters for this effect to occur. "<br><br>