The current research aims at contributing to this field of study, hypothesizing that dishonest behavior is positively related to incorrect speech by native speakers. Specifically, many native- born Israelis make mistakes when pronouncing Hebrew number names, which requires distinguishing between masculine and feminine forms. One can assume that a native-born Israeli who does not find it necessary to invest even a small amount of time in memorizing the rules of the language is not particularly concerned about the impression his or her incorrect speech makes on others. Similarly, it can be assumed that someone who behaves dishonestly is not particularly concerned with the opinions of others regarding his or her deceitful behavior. In view of these assumptions, the current research raises the hypothesis that, given the opportunity to gain financially from dishonest behavior, native-born Israelis who speak incorrectly will be more likely to exploit it than their peers who speak correctly.
The research hypothesis was tested among native-born students whose mother tongue is Hebrew using two two-stage experiments. The first stage, identical in both experiments, was intended to identify dishonest behavior by applying the well-known die-under-the-cup task. Specifically, each participant was asked to roll two dice in private and report the result to us. We promised in advance to pay 5 NIS for each point shown by the two dice. This promise created an incentive to overreport the result dishonestly. We were not able to identify dishonesty on an individual basis, but comparing the participants' average reported result with the statistical expectation of two dice rolled many times (which is 7), we could infer that If the average report was significantly higher participants as a group reported dishonestly by inflating the actual dice outcomes. In such a case, the reported result could serve as a measure of the intensity of dishonesty.