Attitude Toward Cheating and Opportunistic Behavior

Abstract

The problem was to Investigate attitude" toward cheating and the incidence of opportunistic cheating behavior in samples of undergraduate and graduate college student". Attitudes were assessed through the administration of Anderson’s attitudinal measurement instrument. Opportunistic cheating was observed through the utilization of contrived situations applied under two different levels of stress. Findings suggest that (a) attitudes toward cheating as measured by Anderson's scale do not appear to reflect the actual behavior of the respondents, and (b) In a given situation, regardless of the presence or absence of stress, approximately one-third of a college class will cheat opportunistically if the climate is an advantageous one.