PsychologicalReports, 2007, 100, 379-386. O Psychological Reports 2007 CHEATING ON COLLEGE EXAMINATIONS '.' MARINA MONZANI DA ROCHA, GABRIELA ANDKADE DA SILVA, LEANDRO NASCIMENTO Institute of Psychology, University of SZo Paulo JOSE DE OLIVEIRA SIQUEIRA School of economic^, Business and Accountancy Univer.\ity of520 IJaulo EMMA OTTA In~titute of Psychology, University of $50 I'aulo Summary.-The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of contexts on cheating attitudes and behavior among Brazihan undergraduates. Participants were 77 Previous Choice Engineering and 70 Late Choice Engineering students. Previous Choice students enter the desired field chosen by examination, whereas Late Choice students' grades during the two first college years give them preference to choose the field. Their self-reported attitudes and behaviors were compared with those of 82 chemistry undergraduates from two universities (UNI-C and USP-C). The Late Choice students reported significant negative opinion about cheating, whereas Previous Choice students, especially women, reported significant favorable opinion. Furthermore, Pre- vious Choice students reported colleagues more frequently gave them answers on ex- aminations than Late Choice students. The two university groups in chemistry had in- termediate scores. Deterrents of cheating strongly embedded in the student culture were found among Late Choice engineering undergraduates which may be explained by social learning theory. Cheating behavior, defined as copying answers from the paper of a col- league with consent while taking an examination, was studied among Brazil- ian undergraduates. The cheater generally can be considered a parasite who gets higher marks than he deserves, leading to an inaccurate evaluation of knowledge (Magnus, Polterovich, Danilov, & Sawateev, 2002). Cheating among undergraduates has attracted attention of researchers in many different countries (e.g., England: Newstead, Franklyn-Stokes, & Arm- stead, 1996; Ashworth, Bannister, & Thorne, 1997; United States: McCabe & Treviiio, 1997; Finn & Frone, 2004; Canada: Austin, Simpson, & Reynen, 'Address correspondence to Emma Otta, Departamento de Psicologia Experimental, Instituto de Psicologia, Universidade de SHo Paulo, Av. Prof. Mello Moraes 1721, CEP 05508-900, SHo f aulo, Brazil. This research was sup orted by Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientifico e Tecnol6- gico (CNP ) W e than! Cinthya Schuck Paim for her help with the revision of our translation of the textyrhm Portuguese into English. We are also grateful to Fernando Leite fibeiro, Vera Silvia Raad Bussab, anonymous reviewers, and the editors for valuable suggestions and insight- ful comments on an earlier draft of the manuscript.