The Effectiveness of Moral Reminders in Preventing Academic Dishonesty: A Preregistered Experimental Study

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cris.lastimport.scopus2026-10-04T03:24:34Z
dc.abstract.enAcademic dishonesty is one of the most severe threats to the quality of academic education worldwide. Among the various methods of addressing this issue, universities often employ moral reminders: oral or written statements that prompt students to adopt desirable ethical standards. Our experiment aims to shed new light on the actual effectiveness of this method, which seems equivocal given the contradictory results of many previous studies. We recruited a sample of 544 Polish students from different universities to participate in this online, between-subjects study with an experimental manipulation involving three moral reminders (standard, reflective, and self-created). The data from the behavioral honesty task (STD) test did not allow confirmation of the effectiveness of any of these moral reminders compared with the control group. We were, however, able to demonstrate several other factors associated with increased dishonesty among students, such as self-deceptive enhancement or a greater tendency to commit “small” cheats compared to “large” ones. We discuss all the results in the context of recommendations for further empirical studies and possible academic dishonesty interventions.
dc.affiliationInstitute of Psychology
dc.affiliationInstytut Psychologii
dc.affiliationWydział Psychologii we Wrocławiu
dc.contributor.authorKościelniak, Maciej
dc.contributor.authorGąsiorowska, Agata
dc.date.access2026-08-25
dc.date.accessioned2026-09-09T07:51:20Z
dc.date.available2026-09-09T07:51:20Z
dc.date.created2026-08-07
dc.date.issued2026-08-25
dc.description.abstract<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p> Academic dishonesty is one of the most severe threats to the quality of academic education worldwide. Among the various methods of addressing this issue, universities often employ <jats:italic>moral reminders</jats:italic> : oral or written statements that prompt students to adopt desirable ethical standards. Our experiment aims to shed new light on the actual effectiveness of this method, which seems equivocal given the contradictory results of many previous studies. We recruited a sample of 544 Polish students from different universities to participate in this online, between-subjects study with an experimental manipulation involving three moral reminders (standard, reflective, and self-created). The data from the behavioral honesty task (STD) test did not allow confirmation of the effectiveness of any of these moral reminders compared with the control group. We were, however, able to demonstrate several other factors associated with increased dishonesty among students, such as self-deceptive enhancement or a greater tendency to commit “small” cheats compared to “large” ones. We discuss all the results in the context of recommendations for further empirical studies and possible academic dishonesty interventions. </jats:p>
dc.description.accesstimeat_publication
dc.description.issue3
dc.description.physical1-21
dc.description.sdgGoodHealthAndWellBeing
dc.description.sdgQualityEducation
dc.description.sdgPeaceJusticeAndStrongInstitutions
dc.description.versionfinal_published
dc.description.volume24
dc.identifier.doi10.1007/s10805-026-09759-8
dc.identifier.eissn1572-8544
dc.identifier.issn1570-1727
dc.identifier.urihttps://share.swps.edu.pl/handle/swps/2513
dc.identifier.weblinkhttps://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10805-026-09759-8
dc.languageen
dc.pbn.affiliationpsychologia
dc.rightsCC-BY
dc.rights.questionYes_rights
dc.share.articleOTHER
dc.subject.enAcademic dishonesty
dc.subject.enMoral reminders
dc.subject.enHonor codes
dc.subject.enAcademic integrity
dc.swps.sciencecloudsend
dc.titleThe Effectiveness of Moral Reminders in Preventing Academic Dishonesty: A Preregistered Experimental Study
dc.title.journalJournal of Academic Ethics
dc.typeJournalArticle
dspace.entity.typeArticle