A sociological experiment was conducted in Illinois called the "Wallet Test". You can read about it at:
Lost Wallet Test ,,, 100 wallets deliberately lost to test honesty
Basically the researchers deliberately "lost" 100 identical wallets (containing money and ID) in public places to test people's honesty.
The test results were broken down by age, gender and race ----> Test Results ,,, 100 wallets deliberately lost to test honesty



So what do you guys think? Any surprises?

I'm wondering whether this shit is a recurring spam account.

I've not seen anything else worthwhile from it.

It could be (spam, that is).

The only two things I could say about looking at that idea of this study would be:

A. The study says it was done in Illinois. I'm not convinced it would have the same results in other areas of the country.

B. I find it humorous that they printed this in what appears to be a tabloid sort of magazine if that's what the avatar is indicating. Perhaps I'm skeptical, but I wouldn't take it very seriously at all if it was printed next to "Three-Eyed Martian Boy Found Living in Pope Benedict's Shoe Closet."

My question would be: Where in Illinois did the study take place? 100 wallets isn't very many for a comprehensive result. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there are 12.8 million people living in Illinois. Was the study done in Chicago, some small 'burb, or a farming town, or some combination of them? Doing the study in Chi-town might produces some signficantly different results than somewhere further south in the state.

you can never trust statistics.

It is extraordinarily difficult to, yes. But then, people bank on using statistics to prove their point, and they tailor the way they present their evidence so it favors their stance.

Example: Only 1% of abortions in the U.S. over the last year were due to pregnancy by rape or incest, so it's not a viable argument to say that abortion should be legal to provide for those circumstance.

Sounds reasonable, I suppose, until you question 1% of how many over the last five years. If you're talking 1.5 million abortions, that's 15,000 women pregnant by rapists or family members...

Its not about the numbers shown, but the numbers not shown.

indeed. hence me saying you can't trust statistics.

it's a shame that people use them so much, but that's because people believe them.

Deception is a wonderful quality

That did occur to me as well.

here's a statistic for you; 100% of the time that i've found a wallet, i've pulled out all of the cash and threw the rest in the garbage.