Privilege and the role of entitlement in unethical behavior

WCU Author/Contributor (non-WCU co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)

Stephanie Dawn Mason (Creator)

Institution

Western Carolina University (WCU )

Web Site: http://library.wcu.edu/

Advisor

Thomas Ford

Abstract: I conducted an experiment to test the hypothesis that privilege fosters a sense of entitlement, leading one to behave in unethical ways, ways that benefit the self at the expense of the welfare of others. To test this hypothesis, participants engaged in a role play exercise in which they are awarded a scholarship (conferred privilege), denied a scholarship (denied privilege), or receive no feedback (control) on a test of perceptive ability. After, participants completed measures to assess feelings of entitlement. Participants completed a difficult test of knowledge and self-report their scores. Unethical behavior was measured by the disparity between the participants actual score and reported score on the test. On the basis of my hypothesis, I predicted that participants in the conferred privilege condition would report a greater sense of entitlement and thus would cheat in reporting their test scores more than participants in the denied privilege and control conditions.

Privilege and the role of entitlement in unethical behavior
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Created on 4/1/2019
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Additional Information

Publication

Thesis

Language: English

Date: 2019

Keywords

Behavior, Entitlement, Ethics, Privilege

Subjects

Privilege (Social psychology)

Entitlement attitudes

Self-interest