Students tempted to steal during Psych Club experiment

In the blink of an eye, a black wallet was missing from a neon-pink chalk circle drawn on the ground March 5 in the mall.

Anna Montemayor and Rebecca Ross, psychology sophomores and members of the Psychology Club, were conducting an experiment in social behavior using the wallet with a ticket inside advising finders to please return the wallet to the Psychology Club booth for a free Frito pie.

The club sold Frito pies as a fundraiser at a booth about 30 feet from the chalk circle.

The experiment started at 9 a.m. and lasted until 2 p.m., and during that time, people walked around, over and on the wallet.

Tammy Kothe-Ramsey, president of the club and psychology sophomore, said, "One person had taken the wallet and replaced it with some flowers."

Ross said, "We wanted to see how many people would pick up the wallet, knowing that it was intentionally placed there."

About 15 students picked up the wallet, and of those 15, three students returned the wallet and claimed the reward, she said.

A black wallet eventually was stolen and replaced with a brown wallet, which met the same fate as the black wallet. It, too, was stolen, she said.

Ross said most people who were confronted and asked why they had picked up the wallet responded with, "I had lost my wallet before and was going to turn it in to the lost and found."

Architecture sophomore José Castro said people are unpredictable.

Jacob Wong, psychology freshman, said, "Add unusual circumstances and expect unusual results," concluding, "Had the circle not been there, we would not have seen the results we saw."

Since the wallets were placed inside a pink chalk circle, people were hesitant to pick them up, but if people do not realize they are being watched, it sometimes brings out the worst in them, Montemayor said.

A maintenance worker stopped at the location but wouldn't touch the wallet and waited for district police to arrive, Ross said.

People seem to be more suspicious when they know they are being watched, Ross said.

The Psychology Club meets at 2 p.m. Wednesdays in Room 606 of Moody.

For information, call 486-1258.