An Extreme Take on The Ten Commandments Experiment
Remember our Ten Commandments cheating study? The one where we asked students to recall the commandments before an exam, and found that this moral reminder deterred them from cheating? Well, a professor at Middle Tennessee State University recently made practical use of the study – but in an extreme way.
Fed up with the low ethical standards in his MBA class, Professor Michael Tang passed out an honor pledge that not only listed the Ten Commandments, but also included the concluding flourish that those who cheated would “be sorry for the rest of [their] life and go to Hell.” In response, several students called the department chair to complain and a good deal of controversy ensued.
But what the article doesn’t address (perhaps because no one at the school had) are the merits of this extreme pledge. Is this an effective way of curbing dishonesty? I think yes, very much so. I also suspect that even those who don’t believe in God would take this pledge seriously.
Still, though I don’t doubt its effectiveness, the question remains whether we want to invoke such stringent punishments (stringent for those who believe, that is) on an MBA exam. Judging from the reactions in this case, I’m guessing that for most people, the answer is “no.” But it also makes me wonder about the people who don’t want to sign this pledge….
Irrationally yours
Dan
My latest book, The Upside of Irrationality, explores some positive and some negative ways that irrationality plays out in our lives.
I doubt that people who don’t believe in God, especially the God from the Bible, would be motivated to behave more morally because of an ‘hell threat’. It would be an empty thread to them.
Or they’re not real unbelievers in the first place.
If I am to think in a “Predictably Irrational”-style, I would say the Hell threat would diminish the effectiveness of the ten commandments in curbing dishonesty.
The (counter-)intuitive reason? Well, on the one hand, the ten commandments aren’t seen as a moral guide anymore, but as commandments enforced by the coercive force of the hell. People tend to disobey when they are imposed or threatened like kids – it’s like a teens’ rebelliousness reflex. On the other hand, the ten commandments might not be taken so seriously because of the hell threat – for various reasons: lack of faith, inappropriateness (it’s an exam!), different worldview incompatible with eternal punishment etc.
Hmm… You could do an experiment so see what really happens.
Regards,
Darius
I personally think that the ten commandments thing would not make any impact if someone does not believe in God. Moreover in an exam situation, you are more interested in your result, and wouldn’t probably perceive copying as a sin. I personally think that I would only laugh if a professor of mine would act in a such a way..
I personally think that the threat of being kicked out of the school may be more effective
Considering that this blog is dedicated to exposing irrationality, I find this situation hilariously irrational. First, in my everyday life (at work now and a few years ago as a college student) I am required to provide factual evidence to prove any hypothesis that I have. This is rational, otherwise people may accept a conclusion as fact, when in reality it could be false. Religion is the only facet of life where this standard is not upheld. People are told to “have faith” and be a “believer.” People who question this fact are considered to be “non-believers” and don’t have the “faith”. I see these people as the most rational people out there, especially since parts of religion have been proven to be wrong (ex. the theory of evolution proved the “Adam & Eve” story incorrect). Thus, if you expect a religious threat to be effective, you better hope that every student in the class is irrational. Otherwise, a rational individual would see this as an empty threat. (Additionally, I would lose all respect for the professor for having the ignorance to push his “unproven” and highly controversial believes upon me.) College is supposed to prepare a person for the “real world”, and make them a productive member of society, not too push outdated, superstitious ideals.
Mr. Rational,
I agree with you. This is fairly weird..
Anyway I think that in the Experiment performed by Dan the 10 Commandments (and maybe also the intention of the professor)were used as a “standard” set of norms that we accept as being ethical ways of behaving according to our western society. therefore going beyond the religious aspect.
You touch on another aspect which might be interesting to explore, namely, how do people who profess to believe in God behave differently (if at all) from those who don’t? Does one group cheat more or less under the ‘control’ conditions? And is one group affected more or less strongly by the ‘recalling the 10 commandments’ or the ‘reading the honor code’ exercises? What about the ‘you’ll burn in hell’ note?
As previous studies have shown, we have the capacity to think or rationalize decisions from different perspectives. As with helping a friend move, we can see it as a job to be remunerated accordingly or as a favor, to be done at no cost. In the same way, we can take a test thinking only of our short term self interest or take a test under a larger set of societal rules.
Which is worse Middle Tennessee State University or Hell?
Feel sorry that MBA students cheat around. But, it may be rational for students to cheat in a big class as long as they don’t feel guilty about that, which I think is unfair.
Look around who run banks and big oil companies… Hypocracy is rampant so what do you expect from the young peeps wanting to join the ranks?not cheat??? Ha!
I’m curious if there is any impact of such threats on academic performance? If you compare 2 ideas: be honest vs. be honest or you’ll get punished – it might make students focus less on the honest part of the statement and more on the punishment part of the statement. Could the outcome of this punishment based statement lead students to focus on “don’t mess up” vs. “do your best” at a time of testing? If threats have a negative effect on academic outcomes – it would really fun to see!
I wouldn’t sign it. I enjoy coveting too much.
But seriously, something like that would be so distracting, I wonder if I would do well at all on a test right after. There are plenty of people who’ve used those commandments as props to cover all manner of awfulness. It takes a few hours on a day without a test to get those kinds of images out of my head along with the anger they inspire when even the mention of the big ten comes up.
If it were just the flourish or an honor code with less baggage, I’d likely sign it and laugh.
Mr. Rational, et al;
The absence of a faith based response surprises me. The theory of evolution didn’t prove anything and is just that, a “theory.” If one chooses to base their eternity on a theory I implore them to think rationally and faithfully. If religion was obvious it wouldn’t make sense, everyone would believe.
The fact that people complained about going to hell, verifies their doubt in their unbelief. They know they just might go to hell and that rationally scares them.
A simple and long-standing (since 1957) example of this would be Darden’s honor code, requiring hand-writing and signing on every exam: “on my honor as a student, i have neither given nor received aid on this assignment or exam.” Interesting articulation of a pretty old-school concept.
Without question, people like Mr. Rational – athiests, skeptics – whatever one might call him/herself always throw in their “bible disproven” comments into blogs like this. They make such a point of it, trying to sound all logical and trying to convince others of their ideas so that they feel better about their own particular beliefs and “faiths.” They’re like schoolyard bullies. They have issues, and need people on their side. It comforts them. (By the way, nearly all of Darwin’s assumptions have been proven wrong — yet new biblical proofs are discoverd almost weekly. Just as the Book says it would. Curious…) I applaud any teacher who applies any biblical priciples rather than simply going along with societies flow. Without a moral basis, society continues to worsen towards chaos. That’s great, I suppose, for people who see that as better living through unretrained freedom from resposibibly. Some folks, such as many other teaching professionals and leaders feel that they are educated to the point of being beyond basic truths, and again, any resposibility as it relates to thier charges. Some paths are easy and popular — becuase they’re easy. Some are difficult, but concrete and timeless in their service to humanity. Religion or not, moral commandments should remain paramount in any circumstance. We just happen to have 10 of them, which have been in use for thousands of years. People haven’t changed a bit in that time. If anything, such a code should be advanced, not degraded.
With your family history you know the danger of trusting humans who make up any government. If you don’t cheat you strengthen them. You must cheat to reduce the playing field’s tilt. I’ve been on both sides and affirm that politically empowered people can’t resist misuse of their power any more than the sexually excited lovers you examined. Power corrupts no less than glands. The cost of unresisted government is always staggering.
If anything, I’m still fascinated at how people in charge of a MBAs are perfectly deaf to how ‘ethics’ sounds like an oxymoron to anyone but themselves.
Well, the controversy will help trigger a debate — and that discussion will allow students to face their responsibilities, especially if the teacher can prove that the class that he is talking to already cheated.
I’m not sure that this blog is about irrationality or religion, but rather how our decisions are based on cognitive mechanism that are not Simonian omniscient self-centered maximisation. Calling those newly formalised but previously well-known rules “irrational” is an efficient marketing gimmick (worthy of a publisher willing to move covers) but that we shouldn’t read in the comments.
I would be very interested in seeing long term studies on this cheating effect. Would you get desensitized if every test you had in school had the commandments as the ten first questions (or maybe slightly modified to skip that whole “no gods before me” and such). I suspect that after a while this would just become rote and lose its meaning.
I wonder if the real estate fraud during the boom would have been less if we still used anathema clauses in our deeds, like the Anglo-Saxons did:
“If however, which God forbid, anyone puffed up with the pride of arrogance shall try to destroy or infringe this little document of my agreement and confirmation, let him know that on the last and fearful Day of Assembly when the trumpet of the archangel is clanging the call and bodies are leaving the foul graveyards, he will burn with Judas the committor of impious treachery, and also with the miserable Jews blaspheming with sacrilegious mouth Christ on the altar of the Cross in eternal confusion in the devouring flames of blazing torments in punishments without end.
—Land grant, King Æthelstan of Amounderness, 934 A.D.
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Page 216 of your book lists the 10 Commandments. I note the 3rd Commandment (Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain) is missing and the 10th Commandmant has been split into two parts (in order to make your version come to 10?) It illustrates your conclusion that knowing the commandments is not the issue as much as the process of recalling the moral intent.
Thanks for an informative book.
I enjoyed the book and found the Ten Commandments experiment very interesting. I think they are timeless and very helpfull to anyone that respects them. The concept of Hell I find very childish. I think it didn’t make sense to use it as part of the experiment.
Some students need a little reminder now and again. I think that because it is in the forefront of the mind that they will be less inclined to cheat.
Great information! I’ve been looking for something like this for a while now. Thanks!
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