ARTICLE SUMMARY:
A common solution to crime riddled areas is to increase street lighting; and rightfully so, studies in the 1960s and 1970s found criminal assault happened the most in dark hours, and adding street lights curbed such attacks by 30-70%. In this article, the author takes this finding a step further by testing not whether darkness makes it more opportune for us to commit crime, bur rather if darkness--or even dim lighting--affects how dishonest we are. Short answer: yes. Even when only ourselves are "darkened" (example, wearing sunglasses), we act more dishonest, regardless of the fact everyone can see us and our behaviors. Interesting experiments on what darkness does to the mind, would be interesting to see the other correlations: likelihood to cheat in a dark versus well light bar, theft, whether putting floodlights in politicians offices made any difference...
SITE: http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/06/what-darkness-does-to-the-mind/276578/
