Over the years, there has been lots of emphasis about the benefits of travel and how it can broaden our perception of the world. However, one research suggests that there is a dark side to traveling - that it increases immoral behavior.
When we travel and get exposed to a new culture far different than ours, we have to break mental mindsets if we are to successfully navigate that new culture. That's because each culture has their own set of norms and standards - what might be wrong in your culture is right in another. When a traveler becomes more open to these new cultures, his perception, values, and behavior are modified to give way to the new ones he encountered.
The study argues that as you break these mental rules when you travel to another country, you also have the tendency to break moral rules. It further explains that rather than adhering to a moral absolute,
The researchers, however, added that these immoral behaviors usually happens to those who didn't experience staying in that culture for a long time. In other words, traveling to multiple countries and staying in each of them for a short time will encourage immoral behavior as opposed to staying in one country for the long term.
The researchers conducted eight studies using different methodologies separating those who have stayed in another country for a long time and those who went abroad for six months only. Those who stayed abroad for a shorter time are 15 percent more likely to cheat in the test given by the researchers.
Furthermore, the researchers noted that the relationship between immoral behavior and the breadth of foreign experience is the same no matter the age bracket or cultural group they belong to.
