An Investigation of Student Perceptions of Cheating in Academic Situations

This study explored the impact of need, provocation, opportunity, and intentionality on student perceptions of academic cheating. Constructed passages crossed high and low levels of the variables, and college students judged whether the person in the passage had cheated High levels of need and intentionality were associated with greater negative perceptions, and high levels of provocation were associated with less negative perceptions. Correlational results showed that higher-GPA students expressed stronger negative views; but there were no relationships between perceptions, sex, and/or age.