You receive your monthly salary and notice it's £2,000 more than it should be — clearly a payroll error. It's been in your account for a week and no one has contacted you. The company is large and profitable. Correcting the error will cost you money you've already mentally spent. Do you report it?
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Question

You receive your monthly salary and notice it's £2,000 more than it should be — clearly a payroll error. It's been in your account for a week and no one has contacted you. The company is large and profitable. Correcting the error will cost you money you've already mentally spent. Do you report it?

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Accepted Answer

63% chose "Report it — it's not my money" and 37% chose "Keep it — large companies make this error often; they'll survive". This tests how honesty interacts with convenience and institutional size. Legally, you are required to return overpayments in most jurisdictions. But the practical enforcement is low and the moral calculus feels different when the 'victim' is a corporation rather than an individual. Philosophers distinguish between 'active deception' (lying) and 'passive deception' (failing to correct an error that benefits you). Both are generally considered dishonest, but the instinctive moral weight differs.

The error in your favour

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