As suggested this recent study, people are in a group that requires unanimous decisions, group members are more likely to ignore moral consequences to pursue group goal.
That is, a group environment facilitates lying, self-deception, and justification through the diffusion of responsibility.
Throw the dice
Participants in the study were asked to roll the dice and report the results. Participants also had the incentive to win extra money if the reported number was four, regardless of the truthfulness of the answer.
The results showed that participants overwhelmingly reported rolling a four, which statistically indicates that many chose to lie. Additionally, one of the two group conditions was shown to have significantly higher rates of reported lying than the individual condition.
This dynamic reveals that people in a group are willing to lie and engage in immoral behavior when other members of the group do so as well, resulting in a feeling of shared responsibility and guilt.
Corollary: if you see a group of people very ideologically committed to a purpose (especially if they consider it very important and very based on their values), be on guard.
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The news
If you are acting in a group, you are more likely to lie and engage in immoral behavior.
was originally published in
Xataka Science
by
Sergio Parra
.