Stealing From a "Lost" Letter

Abstract

A nonreactive field experiment was carried out to investigate the influence of the victim on stealing. The subjects were 160 people in the streets of London, England, who picked up a stamped, addressed, unsealed, apparently lost letter containing a handwritten note and (except in control conditions) also £1 in cash. The content of the note made it appear that the possible victim of stealing was male or female, old or young, rich or poor, an individual or an association. It was found that subjects were more likely to steal from males than from females, but stealing was not significantly influenced by the other independent variables. Subjects who were younger or more casually dressed were more likely to steal than others. Stealing did not vary with the subject's sex. It was concluded that stealing depended partly on the individual and partly on situational factors.