What People Would Do if They Found Money - Research Paper Example

? What People Would Do if They Found Money School If a person found money, it is questionable what they might do with it since it is not theirs. An experiment was conducted in order to determine what people would do if they found money. The question at hand was a person's morality of the situation. People may sometimes feel guilty and find a way to return it while in some situations they might attempt to return it to the rightful owner. The study group developed a hypothesis theory that most people would not give lost money back to its owner if they found it. In order to test this theory, a field study was completed. From that, data was collected and a general conclusion was made based on field evidence to test the theory. This literature takes a look of the steps taken in order to develop a problem and determine a conclusion based on the question, 'What would you do if you found money?' What People Would Do If They Found Money A Look Into the Mind and Reaction of People Who Did Some people may see a twenty dollar bill lying on the ground in the middle of the grocery store. Others may see someone leave their wallet after paying at a retail store. Sometimes money is just accidentally dropped or abandoned. The question at hand that the group tested was the effects that dropping money had on the person who found it. The question that the group decided that they wanted the answers to is, “What would you do if you find money?” The group members investigated the morality of what people would do if they were to find money. This includes finding any money of any amount of currency. The study focused on the reaction that some people would have if they found money that did not belong to them, particularly if they were to find it in a public place. The question behind this study was to see if people would claim it as their own or turn it in to try to get the money to its rightful owner. In order to do this, the group developed an experiment in order to test the given theory. Hypothesis To conduct the field study, the group came up with a hypothesis as well as method of study in order to test the hypothesis of what others might do if they were to find money that did not belong to them. The theory of the group members conducting the field study was that the majority of people would not return the money or turn it in if they were the finders. Most people's morals differ psychologically about what the right thing to do is. Some people either would turn it in and be honest or would keep it for themselves and never tell anyone that they had found it. The hypothesis of the group was that most people would keep the money for themselves. Research In order to complete the field study, group members tested the hypothesis in several different methods. This was in order to record data that would reflect how many people would turn in a dollar bill or money of any amount that happened to be dropped or left. The question at hand was to see what they would do with the money when they found it. In order to conduct the field study, group members dropped or left money at various different public locations. Most of these locations that money was abandoned were at restaurants while one was a retail store. The amount of money that was dropped or lost did not matter. The group dropped money at locations such as Shoney's Restaurant, Chili's, Chick-fil-A, and Walmart in the nearby area. Field study group members just dropped the money while they were walking in order to see what would happen. The group members also left money on the restaurant tables to see if people returned it. There were four different scenarios in which money was dropped or abandoned. The first situation was that money was dropped without anyone seeing the owner of the money. The second was that money was dropped and the person that found it saw the owner. The third scenario was that an entire wallet was dropped and it was clear who the owner of the wallet was. The fourth situation that was set up was when a group member's wallet was left on the table. Results In the first situation where the money was dropped and a person found it without seeing the owner, no one gave it back while nine people kept it. In the second scenario where money was dropped and the person that found it saw the owner, 11 people gave it back while only two kept it. For the case where a wallet was dropped and the person that found it saw the owner, four returned it while no one kept it. In the final scenario where the wallet was left on the table, six gave it back while no one kept it. Discussion Some of the limitations of this experiment are that it was conducted in a certain area. It was not acknowledged that people who picked up and kept the money or picked up and returned the money were strangers. Those who unknowingly participated in the different situations may have reacted differently if they had known they were being watched. Also, the morality of a person could also depend on the certain area that the money is lost. Some people in more poor neighborhoods might be more apt to keep the money just because they are in strong need of it themselves. Different people in different regions may have stronger ethics than others. Knowing the background of a person including demographics, age, or other variables may have resulted in a different outcome of the experiment. Additionally, the surveyed group was somewhat small. If the field study was completed on a much larger spectrum over a longer time frame, the results may also yield a different outcome. The results of this experiment can only generalize that the majority of people would in fact try to return the lost money. Conclusion While the group originally thought that most people would abandon their morals for greed, it was discovered to be completely different as reflected by the results of data collection. Though the test study that was completed was small, the group was somewhat shocked to see that the original hypothesis of people's morality and values were that most people tried to return the money. However, in these instances, the money was typically returned when the owner of the money was obvious. If someone saw the owner or had identification in the wallet, they were more likely to return the money than if someone that they did not know and had not seen had lost it. This could be indicative that a person may feel more guilt if they are able to identify the person that has dropped the money. Lost money with no ties to the rightful owner may instead eliminate the possibility of guilt and instead give truth to the old saying, “Finders keepers, losers weepers.” Once the identity of someone who has lost money is revealed, the person who lost the money becomes a person rather than just anyone. It becomes an issue of depersonalization if the money's owner cannot be determined. The groups theory as tested was disproven in this small field study. Read More