Would you pass the wallet test?
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Picture this: you’re working a shift in a hotel lobby when someone approaches the front desk. They found a lost wallet around the corner, but they’re in a rush and don’t have time to follow up. Looking at the wallet you see it contains a key, grocery list, about $13, and three business cards you assume belong to the wallet’s owner. So, what do you do? Dig into the infamous lost wallet experiment.
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Additional Resources for you to Explore
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This NPR article and short radio clip explores what we can learn about honesty from the Wallet Test. You can check out the text of the scientific paper itself for an even deeper dive into the study's methods, data and results.
Read up about honesty in general and why it matters with this blog post by Character Lab. Plus, this intriguing opinion piece explores what philosophers and scientists know about lying, and why perhaps we should do more thinking about honesty.
This NPR article and short radio clip explores what we can learn about honesty from the Wallet Test. You can check out the text of the scientific paper itself for an even deeper dive into the study's methods, data and results.
Read up about honesty in general and why it matters with this blog post by Character Lab. Plus, this intriguing opinion piece explores what philosophers and scientists know about lying, and why perhaps we should do more thinking about honesty.

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