Abstract:

Considerable attention has been paid to the issue of cheating among undergraduate students due to its high prevalence level for recent decades and its negative impact on the social status and historical mission of the schools. This article reviewed and analyzed literatures about college students cheating published at abroad from four respects: prevalence, influencing factors, prevention strategies and relevant theories. The prevalence rate of cheating varies with the studies, in part because different scholars have different perceptions and views in its classification and types. Influencing factors of cheating can be classified as two kinds: individual and contextual factors. Individual factors include basic variables, attitudes towards cheating and morality. Basic variables include gender, grade, major, and prior cheating. Gender and grade differences in cheating were inconsistent and even contradictory. The prevalence rate of cheating varies with the majors. There was a positive correlation between prior cheating and cheating in college. Attitudes towards cheating include evaluation of behavioral seriousness, approval of cheating and neutralization. Cheating behaviors that were considered less serious by students had higher prevalence rate. Students with favorable attitudes towards cheating were more likely to cheat. Neutralization allowed students to cheat without feeling guilty, and rationalize their misbehavior. Morality-related factors include moral development stages, domains of social judgment, moral obligation, and moral disengagement. Studies showed that there was no significant correlation between moral development stages and cheating, and moral obligation not to cheat was negatively correlated with cheating intention. Moral disengagement reduced the feeling of guilt from cheating. Students viewed cheating as a moral issue or not, which had a significant effect on the cheating attitude. Contextual factors include peer effects, honor codes, faculty actions, supervision and punishment. Peer-related factors, such as level of cheating among peers, peer disapproval of cheating had significant correlations with cheating behavior. On honor codes, the key point is not the existence of them, but they must be implemented and embedded in the mind of faculty and students. On supervision, studies found that perception of stronger supervision during the exam would lead to less favorable attitudes towards cheating. Therefore, we can conclude that high rate of undergraduate students cheating partly because faculty didn’t act on cheating behaviors timely. But, the effect of punishment on cheating was still inconclusive. How can we reduce or eliminate cheating behaviors? Scholars suggested that we build university campus into an ethical community, raise the consciousness of honor codes of students and faculty, strengthen the regulation and monitoring of cheating behaviors and impose punishment on cheater in time. However, relevant empirical research is rarely done till now. To have a deep understanding on cheating, several theoretical frameworks were used to explain cheating among college students, including deterrence theory, social bond theory, social cognitive theory, theory of planned behavior, and social cognitive domain theory. Further, this article conducted an outlook on a few important issues on cheating from the research perspective which worth exploring in the future, such as its classification and types, nature, theoretical construction, research methodology and applications.

Key words: cheating, undergraduate students, status, prospect

摘要：

大学生作弊问题正备受关注，因为这与大学之崇高社会地位和历史使命相悖，且危害教育公平、降低高等教育公信力。本文就国外心理学领域对该问题研究取得的丰硕成果，从大学生作弊流行率、影响因素、防范措施以及有关理论方面进行了回顾和分析，进而就关于作弊的分类及类型、性质和模型解释诸重要问题做了探讨并提出了看法。

关键词: 大学生, 作弊, 现状, 展望