Despite a wealth of studies, no consistent personality predictors of scholastic cheating have been identified. However, several highly-relevant variables have been overlooked. I address this void with a series of three studies. Study 1 was a large-scale survey of a broad range of personality predictors of self-reported scholastic cheating. The significant predictors were psychopathy, Machiavellianism, narcissism, low Agreeableness and low Conscientiousness. However, only psychopathy remained significant in a multiple regression. Study 2 replicated this pattern using a naturalistic, behavioural indicator of cheating -- plagiarism as indexed by the internet service Turn-It-In. The psychopathy association still held up after controlling for intelligence. Finally, Study 3 examined possible motivational mediators of the association between psychopathy and cheating. Unmitigated achievement and moral inhibition were successful mediators whereas fear of punishment was not. Implications for researchers and educators are discussed.

Despite a wealth of studies, no consistent personality predictors of scholastic cheating have been identified. However, several highly-relevant variables have been overlooked. I address this void with a series of three studies. Study 1 was a large-scale survey of a broad range of personality predictors of self-reported scholastic cheating. The significant predictors were psychopathy, Machiavellianism, narcissism, low Agreeableness and low Conscientiousness. However, only psychopathy remained significant in a multiple regression. Study 2 replicated this pattern using a naturalistic, behavioural indicator of cheating -- plagiarism as indexed by the internet service Turn-It-In. The psychopathy association still held up after controlling for intelligence. Finally, Study 3 examined possible motivational mediators of the association between psychopathy and cheating. Unmitigated achievement and moral inhibition were successful mediators whereas fear of punishment was not. Implications for researchers and educators are discussed.

Despite a wealth of studies, no consistent personality predictors of scholastic cheating have been identified. However, several highly-relevant variables have been overlooked. I address this void with a series of three studies. Study 1 was a large-scale survey of a broad range of personality predictors of self-reported scholastic cheating. The significant predictors were psychopathy, Machiavellianism, narcissism, low Agreeableness and low Conscientiousness. However, only psychopathy remained significant in a multiple regression. Study 2 replicated this pattern using a naturalistic, behavioural indicator of cheating -- plagiarism as indexed by the internet service Turn-It-In. The psychopathy association still held up after controlling for intelligence. Finally, Study 3 examined possible motivational mediators of the association between psychopathy and cheating. Unmitigated achievement and moral inhibition were successful mediators whereas fear of punishment was not. Implications for researchers and educators are discussed. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate