From overt deterrence to covert internalization: Moral effects of AI regulation and the moderating role of personality traits

doi:10.3724/SP.J.1041.2026.0381

Acta Psychologica Sinica ›› 2026, Vol. 58 ›› Issue (3): 381-398.doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1041.2026.0381

• Academic Papers of the 27^th Annual Meeting of the China Association for Science and Technology • Next Articles

From overt deterrence to covert internalization: Moral effects of AI regulation and the moderating role of personality traits

WANG Jianshu¹, JIANG Xiaowei², CHEN Yanan¹(), WANG Minghui¹(), DU Feng³^,⁴

¹School of Psychology, Henan University, Kaifeng475004, China
²Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney 2007, Australia
³State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Science and Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing100101, China
⁴Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing100049, China

Published:2026-03-25 Online:2025-12-26
Contact: CHEN Yanan,WANG Minghui E-mail:chenyn@henu.edu.cn;wmhwang@163.com

Abstract

WANG Jianshu, JIANG Xiaowei, CHEN Yanan, WANG Minghui, DU Feng. (2026). From overt deterrence to covert internalization: Moral effects of AI regulation and the moderating role of personality traits. Acta Psychologica Sinica, 58(3), 381-398.

Figures/Tables 6

Table 1 Mixed ANOVA Results for the Moderating Effect of Personality Traits on the Impact of Regulation on Honest Behavior

Personality	Effect	F	p	$\eta^{2}$
Machiavellianism	Personality	7.81(1, 44)	0.008	0.15
	Surveillance	24.01(1, 44)	<0.001	0.35
	Interaction	7.11(1, 44)	0.011	0.14
Narcissism	Personality	1.10(1, 44)	0.301	0.02
	Surveillance	21.69(1, 44)	< 0.001	0.33
	Interaction	2.17(1, 44)	0.148	0.05
Psychopath	Personality	3.82(1, 44)	0.057	0.08
	Surveillance	22.78(1, 44)	< 0.001	0.34
	Interaction	4.50(1, 44)	0.039	0.09

Table 2 Simple Effects Analysis Results for the Moderating Effect of Personality Traits on the Impact of Regulation on Honest Behavior

Personality	Group	Surveillance	No Surveillance	t	p	Cohen’s d
Machiavellianism	High	0.98±0.05	0.79±0.22	4.60(25)	0.005	0.90
Machiavellianism	Low	0.99±0.01	0.95±0.13	1.77(19)	0.092	0.40
Psychopath	High	0.99±0.05	0.82±0.21	4.44(28)	< 0.001	0.82
Psychopath	Low	0.99±0.02	0.94±0.13	1.80(16)	0.091	0.44

Figure 1 The moderating role of personality traits on reaction times(RT) for honest versus dishonest behavior.

Figure 2 The impact of surveillance visibility on (a) Honesty Rates (HR) and (b) Reaction Times across Experiment 1 and 2.
Note. No Surv stands for No Surveillance condition.

Figure 3 Interaction between incentive type (Money & Moral Feedback) and experimental stages on honesty rates (HR).

Figure 4 The moderating role of personality traits on honesty rates (HR) across baseline, intervention, and internalization stages in Exp 3a and 3b.
Note. Psych = Psychopathy; Narc = Narcissism; Mach = Machiavellianism.

From overt deterrence to covert internalization: Moral effects of AI regulation and the moderating role of personality traits

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