<p>Does the explicitness of rules affect how ardently those affected by the rules attempt to circumvent them?</p>

<p>For example, in a game where the rule says "do not communicate", then the players would not try to communicate.</p>

<p>However, in a game where the rule says "do not verbally communicate", then the players would try to sign.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-04-28T17:56:25.273Z
The rule given as example implicitly provides a hint that "other" forms of communication is allowed, isn't it? Picking up that hint is not really picking a loophole!
alwayslearning
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-04-29T11:27:39.173Z
You already seemed to have made up your mind this is a ['phenomenon'](http://www.dictionary.com/browse/phenomenon): "_a fact, occurrence, or circumstance observed or observable_". Your actual question seems to be whether stricter rules lead to more persistence in finding desirable outcomes within those rules. It seems rather the opposite to me, rules become more strict when they can otherwise be abused too easily. Is the example you listed the only evidence in support of this supposed correlation? As @alwayslearning stated, this does not seem to be a particularly good example.
Steven Jeuris
<social-psychology><psychology>
Is it a phenomenon that explicit rules encourage others to find loopholes?
Kenny Lau
# Is it a phenomenon that explicit rules encourage others to find loopholes?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2016-04-28)

Does the explicitness of rules affect how ardently those affected by the rules attempt to circumvent them?

For example, in a game where the rule says "do not communicate", then the players would not try to communicate.

However, in a game where the rule says "do not verbally communicate", then the players would try to sign.

**Tags:** social-psychology, psychology

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: The rule given as example implicitly provides a hint that "other" forms of communication is allowed, isn't it? Picking up that hint is not really picking a loophole!  
> **username_2**: You already seemed to have made up your mind this is a ['phenomenon'](http://www.dictionary.com/browse/phenomenon): "_a fact, occurrence, or circumstance observed or observable_". Your actual question seems to be whether stricter rules lead to more persistence in finding desirable outcomes within those rules. It seems rather the opposite to me, rules become more strict when they can otherwise be abused too easily. Is the example you listed the only evidence in support of this supposed correlation? As @username_1 stated, this does not seem to be a particularly good example.  

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## 0 answers

