The study was entitled ‘the dark side of going abroad’.
When it comes to a life-partner you would think that meeting someone who has travelled a lot could only be a good thing. They are experienced, cultured and probably have a good knowledge of the world around them.
However, a new study shows that travel-lovers may be more likely to cheat.
The study had 215 students complete a task one month before travelling, six months after arriving at their destination, and 12 months after.
They found that 30% cheated on the first test, and 47.7% cheated on the second and third.
They then split them in groups were asked to write about either an experience they had at home, about an experience they had abroad, or their last visit to the supermarket. They then all took part in a test where they were given the opportunity to cheat.
Those who wrote about their travel experience were more likely to cheat.
”While foreign experiences empower people to break mental rules, they may also drive people to bend moral rules, thereby increasing their tendency to behave immorally” the research said.
The research also found that it was more likely for those who have travelled to many countries to cheat than it was for those who have live abroad in one country for a long time.
As always, we’ll add our pinch-of-salt disclaimer to this one and say that although the study highlights a certain finding, plenty of other perfectly loyal people travel around that world every day.
