British people are world's most honest, say boffins

Notts university researchers are making national headlines today after a new paper is publishing suggesting the British are the world's most honest people.
HONEST DAVE: British trademark honest is apparently due to the honest our politicians and those in the public sphere. What do you think?HONEST DAVE: British trademark honest is apparently due to the honest our politicians and those in the public sphere. What do you think?
HONEST DAVE: British trademark honest is apparently due to the honest our politicians and those in the public sphere. What do you think?

A team of psychologists at the University of Nottingham University tested some 2,500 people from different countries and according to the paper, published in 'Nature', we British came out on top,

And according to the experts, the reason we're so honest is because our politicians are honest too.

In the experiment, the test subjects from countries all over the planet were asked to roll a dice in private to claim a cash prize based on the number. WHat they didn't know was that they were being filmed by researched from the Notts Uni who observed how honest they were about their score.

And researchers linked the results with levels of corruption in each country.

British people came above the rest, including the Swedish, Germans Lithuanians and Italians. The least honest people were from Tanzania, Morocco, China, Vietnam and Colombia, and the researchers linked the results to levels of corruption in each country - stressing that the UK has a particularly low level of dishonesty within politics (at least comparatively to the rest of the world).

Simon Gachter, professor of psychology at Nottingham University, said: “Ethical values, including honesty, are transmitted from prestigious people, peers and parents.

People often take high-status individuals such as business leaders and celebrities as role models, and their cheating can set bad examples for dishonest practices.

“If cheating is pervasive in society and goes often unpunished, then people might view dishonesty in certain everyday affairs as justifiable.”

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