--- title: "Harvard Scientist Who Studies Dishonesty Accused of Fraud" description: "A Harvard behavioral scientist, who has extensively studied honest behavior, has been accused of fabricating study results." date: "2023-06-30" modified: "2023-06-30" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/harvard-scientist-dishonesty-fraud" categories: - "Future Society" tags: - "academia" - "Harvard" - "scandal" - "the digest" --- # Harvard Scientist Who Studies Dishonesty Accused of Fraud ![A Harvard behavioral scientist, who has extensively studied honest behavior, has been accused of fabricating study results.]() *John W. Weeks Bridge, Dunster House, Havard University, Cambridge, Boston, Massachusetts, America \Image: Getty Images\* ## Liar Liar A Harvard behavioral scientist, who has extensively studied honest behavior, has been accused of fabricating study results — and yes, the jokes write themselves. Harvard Business School behavioral scientist Francesca Gino has been placed on academic leave, the [*New York Times* reports](), after colleagues found evidence that she falsified data in a 2012 study. First noticed by a [researcher-run blog]() and later [reported by the *Chronicle of Higher Education*](), the accusations stem from a 2012 paper in which Gino and two other behavioral scientists concluded that people who sign honesty pledges before filling out forms are more likely to be truthful than those who sign them after completing said forms. The [study]() in question was published by the journal *Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences* and featured data from an insurance company that looked into whether clients accurately reported mileage and other key figures. "There is very strong evidence that the data were fabricated," researchers at the blog *DataColada* wrote in their then-anonymous 2021 post about the study. A month after the blog post was published, the journal [retracted]() the offending study. ## Excelling Though the paper itself suggests that its data points were directly submitted by consumers, the bloggers said that an Excel file lead them to believe someone connected to the study had tampered with its results. As Wharton behavioral scientist Maurice Schweitzer told the *NYT*, this debacle has created "reverberations in the academic community" because Gino has "so many collaborators, so many articles, who is really a leading scholar in the field." Other researchers in the behavioral science field told the newspaper that they were shocked by the accusations against Gino, though they ceded that the type of survey-based methodology she uses can inherently produce questionable results. As with all data-falsification scandals, there's certainly a lot more going on behind the scenes than what has been printed — but given that this specific fiasco is based on research about honesty, it's especially ironic. **More on academic surprises:** [*One in Five Professors Say They’ve Had a UFO Encounter, Survey Finds*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()