In the framework of the 3E seminar series on the topic of Experiments, Ethics and Economics, Prof. David Dickinson held the lecture “Unethical Decision Making and Sleep Restriction: Experimental Evidence” on 25 May 2022.
Prof. Dickinson reported results from a series of laboratory decision tasks administered to participants who had been randomly assigned to submit to a full week of either well-rested sleep levels (target of 8-9 hrs/night) or sleep-restriction (target of 5-6 hrs/night). The sleep manipulation was experienced in one’s home environment and sleep was objectively measured using wrist-worn sleep tracking devices. The decision tasks administered examined honesty and anti-social choice across 2 decision tasks, and over 200 participants completed the sleep protocol and decision tasks. While sleep restriction did not impact anti-social choices in a resource destruction task, across two other tasks assessing honesty or “cheating” we reported consistent findings that sleep restriction significantly increased dishonesty. Given the prevalence of insufficient sleep in many societies, these results have implications regarding how modern sleep habit may contribute to unethical decision making.