Study 1
Our first study tests for the existence of an abundance effect
by investigating whether the presence of monetary wealth influences
an individual’s likelihood to act unethically. The experiment
was described to participants as a study of the
relationship between perception and creativity. The task used
was a modified version of Schweitzer, Ordonez, and Douma’s
(2004) anagram task. As in that study, we had our participants
not only list words, but also check their own work, thus giving
them an opportunity to overstate their performance and engage
in unethical behavior.