Dishonesty

Cooperation can easily break down, so a better understanding of the factors that contribute to people behaving uncooperatively, or even dishonestly, is also crucial in the study of cooperation.

Fairness considerations and inequity aversion arise from a young age and in different cultures. In fact, the ability to evaluate relative payoffs and negative reactions to inequity may be crucial in an ultra-cooperative species like humans for discriminating beneficial partners for future interactions. One way to deal with and remedy such unfair situations may be by behaving dishonestly. In this project, and in collaboration with Elliot Ludvig (Psychology, The University of Warwick) and Nick Chater (Warwick Business School) we are looking at the link between (un-)fairness perceptions and dishonest behaviour.