↑ 收起筛选 ↑
试题详情

Imagine that you found a wallet in the street containing a stranger 's contact details but no cash. Would you go out of your way to return it to its owner? Now imagine that the same wallet contained a few banknotes. Would that change your response? Alain Cohn of the University of Michigan and his colleagues have taken such behavioral economics around the world.

In different countries Dr. Cohn's research assistants entered public buildings like banks, museums and police stations. They handed in a fake wallet to an employee in the reception area, saying they had found it on the street outside, before making a hurried exit. Each wallet was a see-through plastic card case containing three identical business cards with a unique email address and a fake native's name, a shopping list and a key. Most importantly, some wallets also included $13.45, while some had no cash. Then, the team simply waited to see who would email the “owner” about returning the wallet.

In 38 of the 40 countries, the wallets with money in them were returned more often than those without: 51% compared with 40% for the cashless. While rates of honesty varied greatly between different countries, the difference within individual countries between the two return rates was quite stable around 11 percentage points. In addition, wallets containing a larger sum of money ($94.15) were even more likely (by about another ten percentage points) to be returned than those with less, although the “big money” experiment was done in only three countries.

With greater temptation (诱惑), then, comes greater honesty - at least when it comes to lost wallets and small cash. Interestingly, though, when Dr. Cohn and his team surveyed a sample of 299 volunteers, most of them predicted that the more money there was in a wallet, the more likely it was that it would be kept.

A certain doubt about the motivation of others is probably good for survival, so the response of the general population may be understandable. But is the warm inner satisfaction coming from “doing the right thing” also a powerful reason? As this study shows, such thought is real and universal

1.What does Dr. Cohn's research team try to find out?

A.How long it usually takes before a lost wallet is returned.

B.How people of different occupations react to lost w alts.

C.How people behave differently at public and private places.

D.How people respond to lost wallets of varying amounts of cash.

2.What is the second paragraph mainly about?

A.Work division in the team. B.Detailed arrangements.

C.Contents inside the wallets. D.Preparations made in advance.

3.What does Dr. Cohn's research find about rates of honesty?

A.They drop with bigger money. B.They vary from country to country.

C.They are quite the same globally. D.They are stable, unrelated to money.

4.From which is the text probably taken?

A.A research paper. B.A travel brochure.

C.A psychology magazine. D.An economy newspaper.

高三英语阅读选择中等难度题

少年,再来一题如何?
试题答案
试题解析
相关试题