Academia

Deception is used by students, teachers, professors, administrators, and principals within academic institutions. The use of deception has been documented within all levels of education, from elementary school through graduate education. An analysis of 46 studies on academic dishonesty revealed that there is great variety in the prevalence of cheating, which ranged from 9 to 95 percent of students, with a mean of 70.4 percent. Considerable variability was also found depending on the type of cheating that was measured: Cheating on examinations ranged from 4 to 82 percent of students, with a mean of 43.1 percent; cheating on homework ranged from 3 to 83 percent of students, with a mean of 40.9 percent. The prevalence of plagiarism ranged from 3 to 98 percent of students, with a mean of 47 percent.

Research suggests that individual characteristics can be used to predict which students are more likely to engage in deception. Deception varies by age; younger students are more likely to engage in these behaviors than older students. Additionally, research suggests that males are somewhat more likely than women to engage in deception. In terms of academic indicators, students with lower grade point averages (GPAs), who perform worse on the type of task they are engaged in, and who tend to perform more poorly on coursework in general, are more likely to engage in academic lying and deception.

Situational factors also impact whether or not individuals engage in lying and deception. Descriptive norms (i.e., whether people believe that others in society engage in deception) has been found to predict these behaviors, such that when descriptive norms suggest that many people lie in society, people are more likely to lie. Descriptive norms are especially powerful when people believe that in-group members engage in deception. Conversely, if the environment makes morality salient (e.g., thinking of religious values or honor codes) there is a decrease in the amount of deceptive practices that people engage in.