The chances of a wallet being handed in increase in direct proportion to the amount of money inside, according to a study released on Thursday by several universities, including the University of Zurich.
Aiming to test the hypothesis that people’s tendency to act honestly would be compromised by financial incentive, researchers conducted an experiment in which over 17,000 “lost” wallets were left lying about in 355 cities throughout the world.
The wallets contained personal items like cards, shopping lists and keys – plus either no cash, a small amount of cash or a large amount of cash. All were left in busy areas like hotel lobbies or museums or near police stations, giving finders plenty of opportunities to hand them in.
In 38 of the 40 countries studied, the more money in the wallet, the more likely it was to be handed in. Globally, wallets with not much money had a 51% chance of being reported; those with lots of cash, 72%.
Wallets with no money were least likely to be handed in, at an average of 40%.
Self-interest or goodwill?
Of the countries surveyed, Denmark was the most upstanding: 82% of finders handed in the high-value wallets. Switzerland also ranked highly and was notable for not distinguishing heavily between the different cash values; from zero to high, wallets were in general handed in between 73% and 78% of the time.
Countries including China, Peru, Kazakhstan and Kenya propped up the list – in these places, wallets were returned between 8% and 22% of the time.
Researcher Michel Maréchal from the University of Zurich told media on Thursday that the aim of the study was to investigate the factors that influence human honesty on a daily basis.
Explaining the outcome, he said that negative pressures might be the deciding factor: rather than acting from sheer altruism, people might tend to associate keeping the higher amounts with thievery and simply don’t want the guilt associated with that.
“People want to see themselves as honest, not as thieves,” he said. Keeping a wallet you’ve found thus leads to the necessity to adjust one’s self-image accordingly – which comes at a psychological cost.
Popular Stories
More
Climate adaptation
Why Switzerland is among the ten fastest-warming countries in the world
Has your continent reached its peak or is there still potential for economic growth?
Some regions of the world are on an upward trajectory with the promise of a steadily improving future. Where do you live? And in which direction is your region or continent developing?
A tropical parasite spreads from Switzerland to Germany
This content was published on
A pest from the tropics is giving Swiss agriculture a hard time. The caterpillar of the tomato moth (Helicoverpa armigera) devours almost everything. The moth is now spreading northwards.
Over 10,000 people brave the rain for Geneva Lake Parade
This content was published on
The Lake Parade attracted more than 10,000 people to Geneva on Saturday afternoon in torrential rain. This techno and festive event took place in a reduced format and on an unusual reversed route because of the Women's Euro.
This content was published on
The Zurich cantonal police today arrested two men in Pfungen, a few kilometres from Winterthur (ZH), who were trying to rob a gun shop. Thefts in such businesses in Switzerland have multiplied recently.
This content was published on
Flight safety is reduced by the clogging of airspace, says Thomas Steffen, a pilot for Swiss and head of safety at Aeropers, the industry association.
Malaysian artist Yee I-Lann holds first major European exhibition in Thun
This content was published on
Das Kunstmuseum Thun richtet im August die erste grössere Europaausstellung der malaysischen Künstlerin Yee I-Lann aus. Darin werden Einflüsse des Kolonialismus aber auch das Fortbestehen des indigenen Erbes thematisiert.
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.
Read more
More
Switzerland one of the happiest nations
This content was published on
Last year, Switzerland ranked Number 2; in 2015, it took first place. But the drop in the rankings is no reason to frown, according to the World Happiness Report 2017External link. “All of the top four countries rank highly on all the main factors found to support happiness: caring, freedom, generosity, honesty, health, income and…
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.