Stage 1 Registered Report: How subtle linguistic cues prevent unethical behaviors [version 1; peer review: 1 approved with reservations]

Different ways of description can easily influence people's evaluation and behaviors. A previous study suggested that subtle linguistic differences in ethical reminder instructions can cause differences in preventing readers' unethical behavior. The present study aims to replicate the previous finding by Bryan and his colleagues (2013) in the Japanese context, additionally exploring the influence of unfamiliar instructions that capture participants' attention. In two experiments, which are planned to be conducted online, participants are asked to make 10 coin-tosses and report the number of "heads," indicating the amount of money that could be earned. We will manipulate instructions ("Don't cheat" vs. "Don't be a cheater" vs. no instruction as a control) for each participant group including nearly 270 participants (Experiment 1). Next, we will conduct an extended experiment with an additional task in which more attention is directed toward the text (Experiment 2). Through these registered experiments, we examine the credibility of the previous finding that type of instruction affects the occurrence of unethical behaviors.