Academic Dishonesty Beyond Cheating and Plagiarism: Students’ Interpersonal Deception in the College Classroom

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine student deception in the college classroom. Participants were 256 undergraduate students who responded to an open-ended questionnaire to determine (a) the ways students deceive their instructors, (b) their motives for deception, (c) their methods used to accomplish deception, and (d) their rate of success in obtaining their desired goals. Results revealed that most students (a) deceived their instructors by engaging in academic misconduct and lying or making up excuses for late work and attendance issues, (b) were motivated to deceive because of grade issues, and to a lesser extent, impression management issues, (c) preferred using falsification and concealment as their methods of deception, and (d) perceived that they were successful through their deceptive acts.