Comment 54 by Stephen of Wimbledon

Re research link:

Sorry, not recorded.

My most likely source is a periodic advertising email newsletter from Robert Cialdini's website. He's a pop science writer (among other things, he's also a teacher and researcher, or was). Occasionally he links new research reports that illustrate various themes he's focusing on. I think this code of ethics curiosity was discussed in one of his periodic newsletters several years ago. (Long since deleted at my end.)

It's possible there's a reference remaining on Cialdini's website. They'd probably point you in the right direction of you emailed them. Being professional academics they'd certainly have the original source identified.

Searching on the research databases for the original publication would be difficult. Titles on papers often don't give much of a clue as to what they're about.

I didn't read the original paper myself. But this particular idea involving mental shortcuts is consistent with other well accepted phenomena in social psychology, so it's not really surprising that it's a possible explanation for the peculiar persistence of things like the 10 commandments.