C-H-E-A-T: Wordle Cheating Is Related to Religiosity and Cultural Tightness. (May 2023)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Wormley, Alexandra S.; Cohen, Adam B.
• Is Part Of: Perspectives on psychological science. Volume 18:Number 3(2023)
• Page Start: 702
• Page End: 709
• Publication Date: 2023-05
• Subjects: cheating -- culture -- religiosity -- tightness; Psychology -- Periodicals; 150
• DOI: 10.1177/17456916221113759
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1745-6916

Abstract

Wordle is a daily, online brainteaser. The widespread popularity of the game in the early months of 2022 has also led to widespread cheating. Here, we use data from Google Trends and Twitter to explore correlates of cheating on Wordle. We find that cheating behavior is negatively related to religiosity and cultural tightness. Although this is a benign example of cheating behavior, we discuss how popular trends can be used as case studies of group-level behavior.