Cheating Behavior, Subject Variables, and Components of the Internal-External Scale under High and Low Risk Conditions

Abstract

AbstractUnder two conditions (high and low risk) college undergraduates (N = 153) were administered the Rotter Internal-External Scale and the circles test of Hartshorne and May. The I-E Scale was scored for the Collins subscales (1974). The only significant correlation between cheating, the I-E Scale, and the Collins subscales was on the difficult-easy world subscale under the high risk condition (r = .19). This finding was consistent with the findings of Houston. It was found that cheating was situationally specific; subjects cheated more under the low risk condition than under the high risk condition. The data were also analyzed with respect to the relationships between sex, academic ability, and cheating behavior. In the low risk condition women cheated significantly more than men. Sanction threats (high risk condition) were found to reduce the incidence of cheating only for women. Cheating behavior was not related to academic ability; however, under the high risk condition high ability students cheat...