With most illegal activities occurring in the dark of the night, researchers have now illuminated the effect of light on our morals
Author Anton Chekhov’s story ‘The Robbers’ brings to mind images of stealthy, sly and lustful robbers’ lamp-lit den where the on-set of night didn’t signal terminating all activities, but rather incited setting spirits to satiate their beastly cravings. Characterising the darkness of the night in myriad metaphorical ways, Chekhov kept the reader’s pulse racing till the end. If merely repetitive mention of darkness can set a person’s heart racing, could the cloak of darkness embolden some to commit crimes too?
A recent study by psychologists Chen-Bo Zhong and Vanessa Bohns of the University of Toronto and Francesca Gino of the University of North Carolina suggests that it isn’t only the fear of exposure that leads to increased incidents of misconduct in darkness. Rather, it is darkness that triggers some of the destructive emotions that may lead one to misbehave! It was the unanimity of the results of the experiments conducted that led to publishing the research in the journal Psychological Science. Participants in dimly-lit surroundings were seen to cheat more than those in the brightly-lit set-up. While in another set of participants, who were only made to wear sunglasses and asked to divide $6 amongst each other in any way they wished, it was noted that ‘darkness increased their self-interested behaviour’!
Dr. Sanjay Chugh agrees and adds to the theory here, “I would agree with this. No one likes to be caught when doing something wrong. So, people try to hide or do it on the sly. Darkness provides the best cover. People become less cautious and more daring when there is lesser risk of being exposed. Darkness also probably heightens the sensation of what you are doing and takes the edge away from internalised values, ethics and morals, essentially allowing denial to take over.”
Author Anton Chekhov’s story ‘The Robbers’ brings to mind images of stealthy, sly and lustful robbers’ lamp-lit den where the on-set of night didn’t signal terminating all activities, but rather incited setting spirits to satiate their beastly cravings. Characterising the darkness of the night in myriad metaphorical ways, Chekhov kept the reader’s pulse racing till the end. If merely repetitive mention of darkness can set a person’s heart racing, could the cloak of darkness embolden some to commit crimes too?
A recent study by psychologists Chen-Bo Zhong and Vanessa Bohns of the University of Toronto and Francesca Gino of the University of North Carolina suggests that it isn’t only the fear of exposure that leads to increased incidents of misconduct in darkness. Rather, it is darkness that triggers some of the destructive emotions that may lead one to misbehave! It was the unanimity of the results of the experiments conducted that led to publishing the research in the journal Psychological Science. Participants in dimly-lit surroundings were seen to cheat more than those in the brightly-lit set-up. While in another set of participants, who were only made to wear sunglasses and asked to divide $6 amongst each other in any way they wished, it was noted that ‘darkness increased their self-interested behaviour’!
Dr. Sanjay Chugh agrees and adds to the theory here, “I would agree with this. No one likes to be caught when doing something wrong. So, people try to hide or do it on the sly. Darkness provides the best cover. People become less cautious and more daring when there is lesser risk of being exposed. Darkness also probably heightens the sensation of what you are doing and takes the edge away from internalised values, ethics and morals, essentially allowing denial to take over.”
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