Shall I Trust You? Diversity, Trust, and Cheating Behavior in School Children

Last registered on June 16, 2025
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Shall I Trust You? Diversity, Trust, and Cheating Behavior in School Children
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0015678
Initial registration date
June 10, 2025

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
June 16, 2025, 7:15 AM EDT

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Locations

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Primary Investigator

Name
Giovanna Marcolongo
Affiliation
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Alessandra Casarico
PI Affiliation
Bocconi University
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PI Name
Selene Ghisolfi
PI Affiliation
LEAP, Bocconi University
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PI Name
Chiara Serra
PI Affiliation
Bocconi University
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Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2024-01-01
End date
2027-12-31
Keywords
Behavior, Education
Additional Keywords
Trust, Diversity
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
This research project explores how diversity influences trust and honesty among children aged 11 to 13. It addresses the question of whether factors such as gender, ethnicity and disability status affect trust-related decisions and ethical behaviour. We investigate these dynamics through a non-simultaneous trust game, analyzing how individuals decide to extend trust, while taking into account a rich set of individual, family, school, and classroom characteristics. Additionally, we examine honesty and cheating behavior by tracking changes in the number of stickers—used as rewards in the trust game—inside envelopes at the beginning and end of the questionnaire. By comparing these counts with the number of stickers children were instructed to take, we derive a measure of honesty. Trust and honesty are closely related and understanding whether children who give more trust are more likely to behave honestly can provide insights into the mechanisms that sustain cooperative behavior in social interactions. This age range is an interesting developmental stage where moral reasoning and social behaviors are shaped. Measuring honesty may help to assess how children internalize ethical norms and whether these norms are influenced by exposure to diversity.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Casarico, Alessandra et al. 2025. "Shall I Trust You? Diversity, Trust, and Cheating Behavior in School Children." AEA RCT Registry. June 16. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.15678-1.0
Sponsors & Partners

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention Start Date
2024-03-01
Intervention End Date
2025-04-30

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Children's trust, honesty, cheating behavior
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
We recruited middle school students from approximately 150 classrooms across Milan. Between the spring semesters of 2024 and 2025, we carried out a data collection effort that incorporated both a trust game and a task designed to detect dishonest behavior.

1- We conduct a non-simultaneous trust game with middle school students, where participants are asked to exchange stickers with partners who differ in ethnicity and gender. The design also incorporates baseline data that allows us to explore heterogeneity based on family background, and broader socio-economic and classroom characteristics. By analyzing students’ responses across different types of partners, we derive individual-level measures of trust.

2- To measure honesty, we include a task in which students are instructed to privately collect a specific number of stickers from an envelope, based on what they obtain in the trust game as communicated to them. By comparing the actual number taken to the instructed amount to be received based on the outcome of the trust game, we infer each student’s level of honesty.

Ultimately, our study examines the relationship between trust, honesty and social diversity.
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
All students participate in the trust game as Player 1 and are randomly assigned a Player 2, represented by an AI-generated photo that varies by gender and migration status. This random assignment is implemented by the researchers using Qualtrics.
As a result, students are divided into four groups, each matched with a different type of Player 2:
Group 1: male native student
Group 2: male migrant student
Group 3: female native student
Group 4: female migrant student

We aim to compare the amount sent to player 2 in each of the four groups.
Randomization Unit
Individual level randomization
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
2754 pupils in 161 classes in 27 schools
Sample size: planned number of observations
2754 pupils
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
2754 pupils surveyed, we will assess the relationship between trust and honesty
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Bocconi Research Ethics Committee
IRB Approval Date
2025-05-06
IRB Approval Number
RA000688.01
Analysis Plan