In 2021, academic sleuths revealed that two experiments in the 2012 'signing first' honesty paper were fraudulent.
Notes on verification
Well-corroborated by Data Colada's detailed forensic analyses, BuzzFeed News reporting, and academic commentary. The 2021 discovery targeted one study (Study 3); the full detail of two separately fabricated studies emerged more clearly in 2023 follow-ups, so the exact 2021 framing is slightly compressed but substantially accurate. [tier=unverified indep_score=0.3 clusters=4 claim_tier=exceptional] [rescored 2026-09-15: curated origin-host map (PR #65); unclassified hosts no longer scored as aggregators]
Sources
- Inside an Academic Scandal: A Story of Fraud and Betrayal (seed:psychology_and_neuroscience)
- https://datacolada.org/98 (corroboration)
- https://datacolada.org/109 (corroboration)
- https://reason.com/volokh/2021/08/22/a-big-study-on-honesty-turns-out-to-be-based-on-fake-data/ (corroboration)
- https://bigthink.com/the-present/honesty-pledge-study-fraud-dan-ariely/ (corroboration)
- https://behavioralscientist.org/harvard-professor-under-scrutiny-for-alleged-data-fraud/ (corroboration)