Would you pass the wallet test?

Dig into the experiment known as the lost wallet test, and find out the surprising results of this study of honesty.

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Picture this: you’re working a shift in a hotel lobby when someone approaches the front desk. They found a lost wallet around the corner, but they’re in a rush and don’t have time to follow up. Looking at the wallet you see it contains a key, grocery list, about $13, and three business cards you assume belong to the wallet’s owner. So, what do you do? Dig into the infamous lost wallet experiment.

Directed by Maryna Buchynska, and action creative agency.

This video made possible in collaboration with Character Lab

A special thanks to Alain Cohn who provided information and insights for the development of this video.

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[Preyinglol]

If you've ever lost your phone or wallet and felt that sinking feeling you know how bad it is. The difference you make to someone by returning their lost item far outweighs the minor benefit you get from keeping it.

[jhonbus]

This experiment doesn't just measure honesty, though. The person at the desk has to actually do work if they want to contact the "owner". The options aren't just "Return wallet to owner" or "Steal wallet and contents", they also include "Shove wallet in drawer, I'm busy" and "Shove wallet in drawer, owner will probably come to collect it" - especially if you're working at a hotel desk, this is probably what you'd expect. The amount of effort you're willing to put in obviously depends on the value of the wallet. Is it worth spending the time to contact the owner for a wallet with no money in it? Maybe? What if you've got a load of other customer enquiries to deal with and your supervisor is going to be annoyed if you're behind?

Even to the extent it _does_ measure honesty, they've really not designed a scenario where the person they're testing isn't worried about getting caught. There are probably cameras, and the fact someone came and handed it to you means you're aware somebody knows it was given to you.

[cristiansoutside]

I remember going backpacking a month ago and this lady had dropped her wallet as I passed her and I instantly told one of my friends to take off his heavy backpack and chase after her, (she was trail running down hill) and when she noticed him and stopped she was so grateful. That is worth more than any cash we could have ever gotten from anyone

[drewainge]

I always walk my dog around a church backyard. I am not an attendee of that church. I walk my dog there every weekday where there are no people around. One monday morning i found two $50 dollar bills folded together under a garden bench... i dont see any people around and there's no one in the church. For the first time ever i went inside the church and dropped the bills in the donation box, pretty sure that money is from someone who attended the church service the day before... when i got home i looked for my in my drawer to buy some food... i soon realized that inforgot thay i put a pair of 50 dollar bills in my pocket the night before....

[cheythompson]

I definitely would return it, I know what it's like loosing important things.

I once found a wallet with $950 in it along with other bank cards and a drivers license. Next to it was a photo of a little girl, I phoned the number on the driver's license and it turned out the money was for the little girls chemotherapy and my heart just melted.

Always return or do your best to return things to there owners you never know how important it is to its owner.

[suicaedere]

I think empathy is a strong incentive, if you found money with no context then you would keep it because you have no other thing to do with it, but context, the idea someone had all this money and personal stuff like ID and keys is a strong incentive to think how much distress would cause them lose it.

[nikkyboy]

A guy, with a full backpack and a rain jacket, knocked on my second floor apartment door one day. Wondering what he could want, I opened the door to find him extending my wallet towards me in his hand.

I was baffled since I thought it was safely in my home but it turns out I must've dropped it on my way home instead (I walk much like this man with a backpack).

He told me he found it some miles away and decided to return it to its owner. 20+ dollars were untouched and I got my ID and debit card back.

Years later, I still regret not giving him some money or an umbrella. He turned around and returned to what was a very heavy downpour.

I was shocked. I just took my wallet and profused immense gratitude without actually rewarding this honest man for his efforts.






Edit:
1k likes for a silly story I happened to recall on my favorite YouTube channel. Thank you everyone!

[namdoolb]

The professional setting plays into this hugely.

Firstly, it creates a psychological barrier between the subject & the wallet: the wallet has been handed in to the establishment not the individual.
Secondly it means that they are reaching out to the owner on company time & not on their own time.
Thirdly it raises the possibility of personal gain from inside the establishment: honest actions like that present a positive image of the company (or wherever they work for) & as such will most likely be encouraged in some shape or form by management.

[jaysoesbee]

I was actually asked this question during a board interview. My reply was that I’d turn it it, but return a few weeks later to see if I could claim the unclaimed property. They said that was the most honest answer they ever had.

[BonrekTheOrc]

Back in the late 1980s I found a purse (that looked like it belonged to a child) and handed it in at the local police station. The purse contain about £4 to £5 in small denomination coins and there was no identification in the purse. I went back to the police station after 3 months to see if it had been claimed, as the law here it that unclaimed lost property can be claimed by the finder after 3 months. I was told that the purse had been claimed.
Being a bit suspicious I bought an old purse from a jumble sale a couple of weeks later. I put approximately £6.50 in the purse and then took the purse to the police station. Three months later went back to claim the purse only to be told that it had been claimed by somebody. I can only presume sadly that the police officer who logged the lost property either stole it himself or gave details of the purse to a friend and they claimed it.

[mustmakecaramel]

i can't speak about the money but i feel like putting a key inside both wallets made the number of reports higher overall too
if there's a lost key i start imagining someone not being able to get into their home easily

[Kaputt]

Maybe wallets without money were returned less often because they may think: "Ok, someone has already stolen all the money. If I return it, the owner will likely blame me"?

[kmdash]

I did this experiment informally, and accidentally, once. I found a wallet with $100 in it and turned it in to the front desk of a hotel I was staying at. It didn't have a business card or anything that could identify a person, so I just assumed someone would ask for it later. My aunt said I made a mistake, and should have kept the money because the clerk at the front desk would keep the money and maybe sell the wallet. I said that wouldn't happen. I described the wallet to my aunt and she told the front desk she lost her wallet, describing the one I found. The person there was the one I gave the wallet to, and it was just an hour prior, so he would have remembered, but he said no one turned in a wallet.
My aunt pointed to me and said "my nephew said he just gave you my wallet about an hour ago. And it had $100 in it." The guy then went to the back and gave her the wallet.

[beeman]

About ten years ago I found a purse dropped on the floor in a darkened corridor entrance to a multiplex cinema.
No-one observing and no chance of being caught.
I didn't open it and handed it straight in to the ticket booth staff, and told them the specific location it had been left in.
You just hope someone else would do the same if you lost your own wallet or purse in such a manner.

[FELiPES]

There are some obvious missed incentives in this experiment. Neither of the values mentioned are worth losing your job over given the pay of the position. One would also assume that as the value of the missing possession increases the likelihood of the owner searching for said possession and engaging the business increases.

[RainebowEvee]

Mark Rober did a video dropping 200 wallets across the US a couple years back and I highly recommend watching that one! He compares the numbers and variables such as race, religion, gender, income level etc. which I think weren't included in this experiment that may have a large impact on what a person would choose to do.

[AceAlbatros]

This is what we need to see more of. The positive and compassion of people and to know there’s still good out there.

[aundramice]

I used to work at a dorm front desk, we'd get wallets and clutches at least once a week. Some were nearly impossible to return for various reasons but we still held onto them in case someone came for it. Eventually we'd amassed over 100$ in the desk drawer but the RA's agreed not to take the money till the end of the year. Desk assistants were eventually hired and all the cash from the wallets disappeared within the week.

[shaksiyat]

Once my sister lost her $30 pack of diapers at a mall. She went back to search for it .

Surprisingly she found out local men fighting over that diapers pack claiming it to be theirs.
😂😂

[GiftSparks]

The marginal utility of keeping the money is not matched by the good feeling one gets from returning it. My friend found the wallet of a famous author that contained nearly $1K in cash. When he came to pick it up, he offered her a reward, but she declined and just suggested he write her a Thank You note. He did that and enclosed a copy of his most recent book “autographed.”