Self-report research indicates that dishonesty decreases across adulthood; however, behavioral measures of dishonesty have yet to be examined across younger and older adults. The present study examined younger and older adults’ cheating behaviors in relation to their self-reported honesty–humility. Younger (N = 112) and older adults (N = 85) completed a matrix task where they had the opportunity to falsely inflate their performance. Participants also completed the self-report measure of honesty–humility from the HEXACO-PI-R. Older adults were significantly less likely to cheat and had higher ratings of honesty–humility compared to younger adults. Greater honesty–humility predicted lower cheating behavior. These results demonstrate that older adults show greater rates of honesty and humility compared to younger adults using both behavioral and self-report methods.

自我报告研究表明，成年后不诚实行为会减少；然而，尚未在年轻人和老年人中检查不诚实行为的衡量标准。本研究调查了年轻人和老年人的作弊行为与他们自我报告的诚实 - 谦逊的关系。年轻人 ( N = 112) 和老年人 ( N= 85）完成了一项矩阵任务，他们有机会错误地夸大他们的表现。参与者还完成了 HEXACO-PI-R 的诚实 - 谦逊的自我报告测量。与年轻人相比，老年人作弊的可能性要小得多，诚实和谦逊的评分也更高。更大的诚实 - 谦逊预示着更低的作弊行为。这些结果表明，与使用行为和自我报告方法的年轻人相比，老年人表现出更高的诚实和谦逊率。