Study ranks Alabama 'most honest state'

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July 26, 2013

Alabama and Hawaii are the most honest states in the country according to a study by Honest Tea, a beverage company who recently conducted a nationwide experiment on honesty.

Honest Tea set up unattended kiosks all over the country where their beverages were put out for sale for $1. A clear lock box was left at the kiosk and Honest Tea employees watched from afar keeping track of what percentage of people paid even though to their knowledge no one was watching.

61 kiosks were set up around the country. In the end, the study showed that Americans were honest 92% of the time. But Alabama and Hawaii led the pack with a 100% honest rating.

In a surprise to… well… no one, Washington, D.C., received the lowest honesty ranking. D.C. participants were only honest 80% of the time.

“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,” Seth Goldman, co-founder and CEO of Honest Tea told USA Today. “Even though my bicycle was stolen the same day as our D.C. experiment, it’s reassuring to know that 92% of Americans will do the right thing even when it seems no one is watching.”

Here are some other interesting results from the test:

• Women were honest 95% of the time, men were honest 91% of the time.

• Blonds were the most honest (95%), followed by brunettes (93%) and then redheads (92 percnet).

• People with short hair were honest 91% of the time, people with medium hair 93% and and long hair 94%

• People in groups were honest 96% of the time, people by themselves 91%

Click the infographic below to enlarge it and visit TheNationalHonestyIndetwitter.com for more information.