research methods.cheating.honors.goal orientation.implicit theory of intelligence

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The Perception and Acceptance 1

Running head: THE PERCEPTION AND ACCEPTANCE

The Perception and Acceptance of Cheating

Elizabeth C. Hoey

University of Delaware




The Perception and Acceptance of Cheating

College can be a stressful period in the academic lives of young adults, especially when

finals are close at hand. During a time when research papers, final projects and the semester¶s

notes pile high on students¶ desks and summer is just out of reach, some students may consider

cheating to alleviate the stress they feel. Are non-Honors students more likely to cheat than

Honors students? What about performance goal oriented students and learning goal oriented

students? Though cheating is never considered right, it may be considered more wrong for some

students than others. This study examines students¶ perception, acceptance and attitude toward

cheating based on a hypothetical situation in which we manipulated Honors Program status and

learning goal orientation.

Much research has been conducted on implicit theories of intelligence, goal orientation

and their relation to one another. Implicit theories of intelligence were introduced by Hong,

Chiu, Dweck & Wan (1999), when participants were tested to examine the relationship between

entity versus incremental theory and effort versus ability attributions. Goal orientation, defined

by learning goals and performance goals, was described by Elliott and Dweck (1988). The two

concepts were linked in an experiment with middle school students when incremental theorists

were positively associated with learning goals (Blackwell, 2007). While these studies focus on

math achievement to measure the success of their variables, this experiment studies cheating.

For the present study, participants answered a 20 question survey regarding a

hypothetical story about a fictional character in order to measure participants¶ perception and

acceptance of cheating depending on the character¶s Honors Program status and goal orientation.

In this factorial design, we manipulated the character¶s goal orientation and Honors Program

status. After reading the story, participants answered 20 questions which measured perception,

Comment [YUN1]: Misleads reader?

Comment [YUN2]: Better

Comment [YUN3]: fix

Comment [YUN4]: This point deserves a full

paragraph why is our study interesting?




attitude and acceptance of the character¶s cheating as well as their own implicit theory of

intelligence. Participants¶ theories of intelligence are anticipated to relate to their attitude

towards cheating such that entity intelligence theorists will be more likely to sympathize with the

cheating character, especially when the character is non-Honors performance goal oriented.

Incremental theorists are expected to exhibit opposite tendencies in that they will not sympathize

with the cheating character, especially when the character is Honors learning goal oriented.

Also, participants with performance goals will be more likely to sympathize with cheating

behavior because cheating is a means to achieving a good grade. Though this variable was not

measured among the participants, students with entity theories of intelligence tend to show

performance goal orientation (Blackwell 2007). Another hypothesis worth investigating is that

honors students will find it more acceptable for a performance oriented non-Honors student to

cheat than any other combination of independent variables.

research methods.cheating.honors.goal orientation.implicit theory of intelligence

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