Researchers put wallets with money on the streets. Here’s what most finders did.

It’s so great when research blasts an assumption that we may have held for years. That recently happened when researchers tested how selfish or altruistic the normal person on the street can be.

A study reported in Science magazine (https://science.sciencemag.org/content/365/6448/29) set out to test a commonly held economic assumption that people are rational beings who put their own self-interest first. By bringing in psychology, they were able to see if that assumption stood across countries.

A team of economists tested the hypothesis that selfishness would lead people to be less likely to return wallets they find on the street containing money. Altruism would predict that people will return wallets to maintain an positive self-image. The wallets contained a business card of the owner, making it easy to find out where to return the wallet. Guess what happened?

In 38 of 40 countries, with over 17,000 people in the experiment, the researchers found that people more often returned wallets than did not. Even more interesting, the greater the amount of money in the wallet (nearly $100 versus about $14), the greater the likelihood that it would be returned.

Those countries where people were most likely to return the wallets with money in them were Switzerland, Norway, the Netherlands and Denmark. Those least likely to return wallets with money in them included Peru and Mexico.

To extend the study, researchers put a key in some wallets, which increased the chances even more that wallet finders would make the effort to return them.

The researchers concluded that people care about other people and care about being honest, especially as it affects their own self-image: They want to be seen as good citizens and returning the wallet offered that. Their term was “civic honesty,” which I like.

It’s good to know that we still care about others, even when it feels we are pulling apart sometimes.

Nancy Napier is a Boise State University distinguished professor. nnapier@boisestate.edu

This story was originally published September 8, 2020 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Researchers put wallets with money on the streets. Here’s what most finders did.."