The Honest Truth about Dishonesty

Title: The Honest Truth about Dishonesty – How We Lie to Everyone, Especially Ourselves

Author: Dan Ariely

Publisher: HarperCollins, 2012 (First)

ISBN: 9780007490561

Pages: 284

As we all know, corruption is a major issue in all societies to some extent, but more rampant and troublesome in some others. People cheat often and can be dishonest for no rational reason. Swindling money, whether from your fellow traveler’s pocket, or a business associate, or from the general public is deemed as a grave offence even in countries where corruption is widespread. So, what turns the gentle novices into notorious stealers? Is it possible for a hawk to arise spontaneously in a flock of doves? Answers to these and other related questions may be obtained from this excellent book on how and why ordinary people act dishonestly. Dan Ariely is the James B. Duke Professor of Psychology and Behavioural Economics at Duke University. He had authored two other best sellers titled ‘Predictably Irrational’ and ‘The Upside of Irrationality’. His work has been featured in many journals and major periodicals. This book is the result of the author’s deep research into the mechanics of dishonest behavior and the vindication of his theories validated by numerous trials and experiments conducted among volunteers. This book is a must-have for administrators and policy shapers on social mores.

It’s a common misconception that people make a rational decision on whether to cheat based on a cost-benefit analysis. This Simple Model of Rational Crime (SMORC) states that the urge to adopt unfair means stems from the balancing of possible reward of a dishonest act against the probability of being caught. If the reward is more, or there is no chance of being found out, people steal more. As a solution, it advises to increase monitoring and raise the quantum of punishment, so as to tilt the situation much more towards increasing the cost. Ariely refutes this argument. In fact, the whole book is all about how erroneous this notion is. All of us cheat, but only up to the level that allows us to retain our self-image as reasonably honest individuals, or in other words, up to the amount of cheating for which we are comfortable with our conscience. The author asserts – with the assurance of years of study and a battery of tests – that people are driven by two opposing motivations. The first thing is that we want to view ourselves as honest, honourable people and then to benefit from cheating and get maximum advantage from it, that is, sole monetary gain is having only a subsidiary consideration.

People know that they are gaining something by immoral means when cheating and are mentally troubled by it. However, they rationalize it by other means. Intelligence has nothing to do with it, but highly creative people can come up with many excuses for their deviant behavior. If the reward is more distant from direct money – like tokens which can later be exchanged with cash – the level of cheating was found to be more. People are more apt to be dishonest in the presence of nonmonetary objects. Ariely then presents a disturbing suggestion. In view of the above postulate, wouldn’t it be true that the society would grow more dishonest in the cashless economy to which we are rapidly rushing to? The book includes tests which show that people who are physically tired tend to cheat more. Our physical exertion tends to enlarge the fudge factor with which we deceive ourselves. If you wear down your willpower, you’ll have considerably more trouble regulating your desires and difficulty can wear down your honesty as well. Recalling moral standards, affixing one’s own signature and monitoring are all helpful in bringing down the tendency to cheat. There’s a shocking revelation in the book. People who use counterfeit products and working in collaborative, friendly groups cheat more, just as those who make illegal downloads. However, these conclusions are a little shaky if we take into account the industry’s vested interests on this.

This book is an eye-opener on the behavior of people including you and me. We all are going to take things from each other, if we have a chance. Many people need controls around them to do the right thing. The crux of Ariely’s whole argument is that we cheat for our own benefit while maintaining a positive view of ourselves. This is a crucial facet of our behavior that enables much of our dishonesty. This book is page turner with a thoroughly enjoyable strain of humour running throughout the text. It also offers glimpses on numerous related research in which the author has taken part.

On the negative side, what can be said against is equally applicable to all work in the non-exact sciences. The tests might have been coloured by subjective preferences. The randomization of the trials is in doubt. The author has not disclosed the number of participants which make it difficult to assess the statistical significance of the conclusions derived from it. For example, if the sample size is small, the results shouldn’t be extrapolated to the whole of humanity as Ariely has done in drawing conclusions such as the level of cheating among various nationalities are the same. This inference is politically correct and pleasing to us to know that no nation is above or below others in cheating, but this must be established in the proper scientific way with the level of confidence mandated by statistical techniques.

The book is highly recommended.

Rating: 4 Star