Safe Speed Forums

http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/news/packag ... floc=wn-np

Most Break This Law. Do You?

While the vast majority of us would never commit a felony, almost the same number of us blithely break one kind of law nearly every day: We speed.

Even if you only go four or five miles over the posted speed limit--because everyone else does--you're still breaking the law. That got Mark Barnett, a Kansas State University professor of psychology, thinking. Why are perfectly good and moral people willing to lie and cheat--just a little?

Barnett queried 178 undergraduates on 40 different "minor moral and legal violations." Some of the violations were illegal infractions, while others were immoral but not illegal. They included speeding, cheating on an exam, and cheating on a golf game. Some of the violations had a human victim; others did not.

It's okay to lie and cheat if...
...It doesn't hurt anyone else.
The students were more likely to engage in violations that didn't hurt a human victim, such as taking towels from a hotel, rather than ones where there was an identifiable human victim. "You could park in a no-parking zone, and there's no clear human victim for that." Barnett said, "But you could also park in a handicapped zone, and you could imagine that being harmful to someone who needs that space and has a disability."

...Everyone else is doing it.
The widespread belief that many other people are doing it, helps us to justify illegal or immoral behavior. This was especially true for speeding one to four miles over the limit. "The violations they thought were not that serious were the ones they said they were more likely to engage in."

...There's a thrill in taking the risk.
For people who are high risk-takers, the fun is in the thrill and excitement of the violation. They tend to not be as concerned about getting caught or the danger involved with the behavior as someone who is not a risk-taker.

...It's illegal rather than immoral.
Although this finding surprised Barnett, he realized that the illegal activities people were willing to do were typically ones that carried a low risk of punishment, such as speeding. "Driving a little over the speed limit is illegal, but we inferred from the participants' answers that they didn't think it was likely that a police officer was going to stop them or that anybody was going to get punished for that behavior," Barnett said.
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I sent him this email:

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Speeding
Date: Fri, 05 Aug 2005 02:36:05 +0100
From: Paul Smith <psmith@safespeed.org.uk>
Organization: Safe Speed
To: barn@ksu.edu

Hi Mark,

I was interested to read this:
http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/news/packag ... floc=wn-np

I have a very different view about why people speed and I'd be interested in
your opinion. My view is summarized in the following advocacy piece:

http://www.safespeed.org.uk/why.html

I'd also be interested in examining your materials, if possible (not sure if
you published a paper or what...).

We have some paradoxical things going on in the UK. It seems that the more we
enforce the speed limit the worse the road safety results. I believe I know
why that's happening too. If you are moved to examine the web site, this is
probably the best starting point:

http://www.safespeed.org.uk/againstcameras.doc

--
Best Regards,
Paul Smith
Safe Speed

web: http://www.safespeed.org.uk
---------------------------------
promoting intelligent road safety

_________________
Paul Smith
Our scrap speed cameras petition got over 28,000 sigs
The Safe Speed campaign demands a return to intelligent road safety

I believe psycologists always get the answers that they're looking for !

Selective questioning I think.

I wonder how many people would have even thought of the "thrill of it" unless they were specificly asked that ?

Why do drivers speed?

Because the speed limit's too low!

Do I qualify for a research grant?

Think you'll find most questionnaires of this kind are skewed towards eliciting "right" answer!

Bit like the essay at school where you wrote what you thought would appeal to the teacher rather than arguing your real thoughts on an abstract or moral issue.

undergraduates .. eh?

_________________
Take with a chuckle or a grain of salt
Drive without COAST and it's all your own fault!

A SMILE is a curve that sets everything straight (P Diller).

A Smiley Per post
FINES USfor our COAST!

Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon - but driving with a smile and a COAST calm mind.

he emailed me back as follows:

Paul--

Speeding was only one of the 40 examples of "minor moral and legal violations" included in our study:

Barnett, M. A., Sanborn, F. W., & Shane, A. C. (2005). Factors associated with individuals' likelihood of engaging in various minor moral and legal violations. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 27, 77-84.

If you would like to receive a copy of the article, please email me your full mailing address.

Dr. Mark Barnett

I've sent him my snail mail address. I think it'll be interesting to compare the 40 other minor violation with our area of interest.

_________________
Paul Smith
Our scrap speed cameras petition got over 28,000 sigs
The Safe Speed campaign demands a return to intelligent road safety