Feeling entitled to more: Ostracism increases dishonest behavior
Poon, K. T., Chen, Z., & DeWall, C. N. (2013). Feeling entitled to more: Ostracism increases dishonest behavior. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 39, 1227-1239. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167213493187
2013 Impact Factor 2.515 | 5-year Impact Factor 3.628
2013 JCR Rank 7/61, Q1 in Psychology, Social | 2013 SJR Rank 11/248, Q1 in Psychology - Social Psychology
Abstract
Five experiments tested whether ostracism increases dishonesty through increased feelings of entitlement. Compared with included and control participants, ostracized participants indicated higher levels of dishonest intentions (Experiments 1-3) and cheated more to take undeserved money in a behavioral task (Experiments 4 and 5). In addition, increased feelings of entitlement mediated the effect of ostracism on dishonesty (Experiments 3-5). Framing ostracism as beneficial weakened the connection between ostracism, entitlement, and dishonest behavior (Experiment 5). Together, these findings highlight the significance of entitlement in explaining when and why ostracism increases dishonest behavior and how to weaken this relationship.