Could Wearing Shades Lead to Shady Behavior?

Remember the song “I wear my sunglasses at night” ?  Well that guy was clearly upsomething! New research in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science reveals dark glasses can more than make someone look mysterious or shady.  It turns out a lot of people actually change behavior when wearing shades or while in a darker environment.  As reported in ScienceDaily, scientist conducted a number of experiments where participants were placed in well lit and in darker environments.  In one test, people were asked to complete some math problems and then score themselves. Those in a dimly lit room gave themselves a curve and higher grades than they deserved.In another experiment participants were asked to divvy up money between themselves and a stranger. Those wearing dark glasses took more for themselves.

 Across all three experiments, darkness had no bearing on actual anonymity, yet it still increased morally questionable behaviors.  One researcher said  "Imagine that a person alone in a closed room is deciding whether to lie to a total stranger in an email. Clearly, whether the room is well-lit or not would not affect the person's actual level of anonymity. Nevertheless, darkness may license unethical behavior in such situations."

 So if you have looked on those wearing sunglasses, in places where one wouldn’t normally wear sunglasses, and wonder to yourself what that individual had to hide…the answer could be “plenty”!