How (Dis)Honest Is Rhode Island—New Ranking
Thursday, July 25, 2013
Rhode Island might be known in part for mobsters and corruption, but according to recent findings, the Ocean State ranks ahead of over twenty states in a national "honesty index."
Based on experiments conducted by the beverage company Honest Tea in all 50 states and Washington, D.C., the "National Honesty Index" found that on average, Americans are 92 percent honest. Rhode Island ranked just above the national average with a score of 93%.
The Experiment
Between July 8-18, HONEST Tea set up unmanned kiosks stocked with its beverages throughout the country -- and offered them for $1 on the honor system.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTData was collected on how many people paid for the beverages. Additionally, data was collected on participants’ characteristics including gender, hair color, hair length, facial hair, and whether or not they were wearing hats and sunglasses.
Some of the results Include;
- Washington, D.C. was the least honest location in the experiment with 80 percent of participants paying for their beverage.
- Overall, women are more honest than men (95% vs. 91%)—the same percentages in both our 2012 and 2013 tests.
- Unlike last year where redheads were most honest, in 2013 blonds were the most honest (95%) and followed by brunettes (93%) and then redheads (92%).
- The longer your hair, the more honest you are. People with short hair were 91% honest, vs. people with medium and long hair (93% and 94% honest, respectively).
- People in groups (96% honest) tend to be more honest than people on their own (91% honest).
New England in the Rankings
Rhode Island finished 5th in New England in the rankings -- only Connecticut ranked lower at #41.
Leading the way in New England was Maine, with a #4 national ranking. Vermont came in at #18, Massachusetts at #26, and New Hampshire scored just ahead of Rhode Island on the index at #28.
“We’ve conducted our experiment in different cities over the past few years, but this is the first time we’ve conducted the experiment on a national scale,” said Seth Goldman, co-founder and TeaEO of HONEST Tea. “Even though my bicycle was stolen the same day as our D.C. experiment, it’s reassuring to know that 92 percent of Americans will do the right thing even when it seems no one is watching.”
