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FINDER KEEPERS
Finders Keepers, Losers Weepers: this saying implies that people are entitled to keep any
belongings they may find laying around. Some states actually have laws in place to protect the
rights of the loser of the goods and the potential finder of lost goods. In Missouri the laws
concerning this matter are clearly defined: Property may be separated from the owner by being
abandoned, or lost, or mislaid. In the first instance, it goes back into a state of nature; or as is
most commonly expressed, it returns to the common mass and belongs to the first finder,
occupier, or taker. In the second instance, to be lost, it must have been unintentionally or
involuntarily parted with, in which case it is also an object which may be found, and the finder is
entitled to the possession against everyone but the true owner. But, if it is intentionally put down,
it is not lost in a legal sense, though the owner may not remember where he left it, and cannot
find it; for the loss of goods in legal and common intendment, depends upon something more
than the knowledge or ignorance, the memory or want of memory, of the owner at any given
moment. (Simeone, 2009, p. 171).
Despite the fact that depending on the law of the state an individual may be entitled to keep
goods that he/she found, it stands to reason that people will generally return lost goods if
presented with the proper opportunity. Sometimes the situation may not permit an individual the
opportunity to return the lost goods. According to Korte, People are often placed in situations
where behavior that can assist other people is restrained by certain variables. (Goldstein,
Minkin, Baer, 1978, p.465). An individual may be distracted or influenced by a number of
different variables that may impact their decision or ability to return belongings. Some states
have laws that limit an individuals rights to keep something they find. The law does not sanction
the childish rhymefinders keepers, losers weepersbecause property remains with the
owner until he voluntarily disposes of his title to the property (Simeone, 2009, p. 170).
FINDER KEEPERS
Character traits undoubtedly play a large role in a persons decision to return or not return lost
goods, however that action cannot always be attributed to a persons character. We ordinarily
suppose that a persons character traits help to explain at least some things that the person does.
The honest person tries to return the wallet because he or she is honest. The person who pockets
the contents of the wallet and throws the rest of the wallet away does so because he or she is
dishonest. The fact that two people regularly behave in different ways does not establish that
they have different character traits. The differences may be due to their different situations rather
than differences in their characters (Harman, 1999, p. 317).
Even though a variety of variables may influence if the person returns lost valuables, we posit
that people are generally good natured and will return valuables if given the opportunity.
Methods
Participants
Participants in this research were chosen at random based on their proximity to the
researchers. Both women and men, and all age groups were included in this research. The
youngest individual included in the research was an 18 year old female and the oldest was a 58
year old male. The majority of the participants were UNCC students due to the fact that the
research was done on campus at UNCC. No ethnicity was excluded from the research;
participants were chosen at random regardless of ethnicity.
Measurements
The data that was recorded from each participant included age, sex, place of residency,
and ethnicity. Participants success in this study was evaluated based on them returning or not
returning a $20 bill to the researchers. Some participants were too engaged in other activities to
notice the money on the ground and were not included in the data.
FINDER KEEPERS
Procedure
The researchers walked around the University of North Carolina of Charlotte college
campus. All three of the researchers walked together and observed varying groups of people
throughout campus. One of the researchers picked out a random target group in the immediate
area. The other two researchers strategically placed themselves in the vicinity of the target group.
One researcher walked past the target and drop a twenty dollar bill. The other researchers would
watch to see if the target would pick up the money and return it, or if the target would grab the
money and keep it. If the target picked up the money and didnt return it, the other researchers
walked up a politely informed the target that there was a social experiment in progress. If the
participant returned the money he/she was praised for doing so. If the participant did not return
the money he/she received no praise. After the participant returned the money to the researchers
the data groups that were explained previously were recorded.
Results
The results of the research turned out close to as originally anticipated. The vast majority
of participants were more than willing to return the money. There were some outlying factors
that affected the participants responses to the money being dropped. A large number of
participants were too distracted in their current engagement to even notice the money, but those
people were not included in the data as the goal of this study was not to determine if people
would notice the money. The only participants that were included in the data were those that had
one of four responses: they saw the money drop and returned it, they saw the money drop and
attempted to take it, they did not see the money drop but attempted to find an owner anyway, or
they saw the money drop and continued about their business with no response. A response of
Yes in the returned money category indicates that the participant saw the money drop and
FINDER KEEPERS
returned it. A response of No in the returned money category indicates that the participant saw
the money drop and picked the money up and did not return it. The two other responses are
explained in the table. The table below shows all of the participants that had one of the four
responses previously mentioned.
Age
Sex
Place of
Residency
Ethnicity
Returned money
19
Female
Off
Caucasian
Yes
22
Female
Off
Caucasian
Yes
45
Male
Off
Caucasian
Yes
22
Female
Off
African
American
Yes
22
Female
Off
African
American
Yes
18
Female
On
Indian
Yes
22
Male
On
African
American
Yes
28
Male
Off
African
American
Yes
26
Male
Off
African
American
Yes
58
Male
Off
African
American
No
26
Female
Off
African
American
Unresponsive
18
Female
On
Caucasian
21
Female
Off
Caucasian
Yes
FINDER KEEPERS
???
Male
???
African
American
???
Male
???
African
American
21
Male
Off
Caucasian
Yes
22
Male
On
Caucasian
Yes
29
Female
Off
Caucasian
Yes
19
Male
On
African
American
Yes
34
Male
Off - Works at
UNCC
Caucasian
Yes
23
Male
Off
African
American
No
19
Male
Off
Caucasian
Yes
Aside from whether or not the participant returned the money, there were four main data groups
that were recorded: Age, sex, place of residency, and ethnicity. Of these four data groups there
were two that seemed to be non-significant to the ultimate action of either returning or not
returning the money; the two data groups deemed non-significant were age and place of
residency. The categories that held the greatest impact for participants decision to return or not
return the money were sex and ethnicity. The only participants that picked up the money and did
not return it were black males. The following graph shows exactly how many participants by
response type.
FINDER KEEPERS
The graph below shows the percentage of participants who returned the money versus those who
didnt.
Discussion
According to the results of the experiment there were many factors that contributed to
whether or not the participant returned the money that was dropped. A large percentage of
FINDER KEEPERS
participants were too occupied with whatever it was they were doing to even notice the money
fall from the researchers pocket to the ground. Some people did not attempt to even pick up the
money that was dropped because they simply didnt want to, meaning either they were too lazy,
they were too busy to return it or they were waiting for the owner to disappear and take it. This
further substantiates the claim in the beginning of this study that circumstance undoubtedly
impact an individuals ability to return lost goods. Variables such as if the participant actually
saw the money fall from the researchers pocket or if they simply just noticed it on the ground no
doubt impacted the results. These findings also show that a persons decision to return lost goods
may not be a result of his or her character, or rather a result of his or her circumstances in
happening upon the lost goods.
There is a strong correlation between students who resided on campus and returning the
money. There were only two participants who tried to take the money, and they both resided offcampus. Residing on campus seems to have an impact on how people will respond to these
situations.
The results of this study correspond with our original hypothesis that, overall, people are
generally good natured and will return lost valuables if presented with the proper opportunity. In
this case the proper opportunity seemed to require the person to not be distracted, and that the
person saw the money fall from the researchers pocket. There were some participants who made
decisions that did not align with this presumption, however the majority of the participants did.
FINDER KEEPERS
References
Goldstein, R., Minkin, B., Minkin, N., & Baer, D. (1978). Finders, keepers?: An analysis and validation of a freefound-ad policy. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 11(4), 465.
Harman, G. (1999). XIV-Moral philosophy meets social psychology: virtue ethics and the fundamental attribution
error. Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, 99, 315-331.
Simone, J. (2009). Finders keepers, losers weepers: the law of finding lost property in Missouri. Saint Louis
University Law Journal, 54(167), 170.