The list of factors that seemingly didn’t influence people’s willingness to return the wallet included the presence of a security camera or other bystanders where the wallet was returned; whether the country’s laws punished people for holding onto lost property; the age of the recipient who took the lost wallet and whether they were likely a local resident; and the identity of the research assistant who turned the wallet in. People given wallets with more money have more to gain from dishonesty, but that also increases “the psychological cost of the dishonest act.”, [Like the Science Times page on Facebook. Incredibly honest, those Swiss people (although TBF there's a ~20% chance that it was found by a foreigner, so kudos to you lot, too!). If it had a cash, I would be less likely to assume it was of little value and then make the effort to return it. The SBB lost property service is worth a try, even if you didn't lose the wallet on a train. Still, the authors warned, these are only correlations. But, the researchers wondered, if the wallets were actually collected, would people turn them in but keep the money? State / County. People reporting lost wallets received an email thanking them and saying the owner had left town and they could keep the money or donate it to charity. Hey guys, I live in the Webermühle flats near Baden, and this morning I left my wallet at the Webermühle bus stop. According to a new study from. With money, however, it suddenly feels like stealing and it feels even more like stealing when the money in the wallet increases.”. “Why are people more likely to return the wallet when it contains more rather than less money? The researchers surveyed people to see if they expected bigger rewards for returning more money; they didn’t. “Our results suggest it’s a combination of altruism and what we call theft aversion, so aversion to feeling like a thief.”. And the more money, the better the chances people will return it. All told, the team “lost” a whopping 17,000 wallets. If you tried to reply to anyone here, you should click the "reply" button, or at least mention them if you want them to get a notification. Username or email address * Password * Remember me. We Tested 15 to Find Out. Countries with high wallet-return rates “have very open societies, high mobility, people are not living with their families,” he said. Research assistants walked into post offices, hotels, police stations, banks, museums or similar places, approached someone at the reception desk and said “Hi, I found this on the street around the corner.” They slid the wallet toward the person, saying “Somebody must have lost it. Good luck! Once the period required by law has expired, unclaimed items are forwarded to the fundsachenverkauf.ch GmbH company for sale by public auction. Switzerland and several Scandinavian countries had the highest rates; China and Morocco had the lowest. Registration. SGP Wallet. Profile Picture . But then they ran the experiment again in three countries (Poland, the United Kingdom and the United States), adding “big money” wallets containing $94.15. None of these factors mattered, they found. A real wallet (that looks like it cost more than $1) that also had credit cards and identity cards would probably be much more likely to be returned in that case. But according to a clever new study involving thousands of people in 40 countries, what most of us assume about human nature is wrong. Information for losers of property with a registered easyfind code. Switzerland and several Scandinavian countries had the highest rates; China and Morocco had the lowest. Thanks for taking care! Hey, so I took the route between Sanktjakob Schwimmbad up the slope towards SBB, from SBB i went to Petersplatz via the main road. You do not need to do anything if your item of property has an easyfind code which you have registered. I wonder how much of a factor simple laziness was. Overall, the volunteers said it would have felt more like stealing if the wallets carried money than if they didn’t, and the more money the wallet contained, the more people would have felt like thieves for keeping it. They also tested for altruism by planting wallets containing money but no key, the one item specifically valuable for the wallet’s owner. Countries with a strong social safety net, less financial inequality, and high participation in politics, such as the Nordic countries, might encourage a greater focus on the need to be there for anyone, stranger or not.