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This program is enhanced with 14 never-before-heard episodes of Dan Ariely's "Arming the Donkeys" podcast - available exclusively on this audiobook! The New York Times bestselling author of Predictably Irrational and The Upside of Irrationality returns with thought-provoking work to challenge our preconceptions about dishonesty and urge us to take an honest look at ourselves. Does the chance of getting caught affect how likely we are to cheat? How do companies pave the way for dishonesty? Does collaboration make us more honest or less so? Does religion improve our honesty? Most of us think of ourselves as honest, but, in fact, we all cheat. From Washington to Wall Street, the classroom to the workplace, unethical behavior is everywhere. None of us is immune, whether it's the white lie to head off trouble or padding our expense reports. In The (Honest) Truth About Dishonesty, award-winning, bestselling author Dan Ariely turns his unique insight and innovative research to the question of dishonesty. Generally, we assume that cheating, like most other decisions, is based on a rational cost-benefit analysis. But Ariely argues, and then demonstrates, that it's actually the irrational forces that we don't take into account that often determine whether we behave ethically or not. For every Enron or political bribe, there are countless puffed r�sum�s, hidden commissions, and knockoff purses. In The (Honest) Truth About Dishonesty, Ariely shows why some things are easier to lie about; how getting caught matters less than we think; and how business practices pave the way for unethical behavior, both intentionally and unintentionally. Ariely explores how unethical behavior works in the personal, professional, and political worlds, and how it affects all of us, even as we think of ourselves as having high moral standards. But all is not lost. Ariely also identifies what keeps us honest, pointing the way for achieving higher ethics in our everyday lives. With compelling personal and academic findings, The (Honest) Truth About Dishonesty will change the way we see ourselves, our actions, and others.… (more)
User reviews
This funny, fascinating, personal paradigm shattering book is in a genre I love, books that make me examine my thinking process, but this one caused me more soul searching than any other I’ve read. According to the Simple Model of Rational Crime (SMORC) we
Ariely is very skilled at conceiving, conducting and describing experiments that tease apart the tangle of human motivations. According to what he’s discovered, we’ll cheat, lie and steal, but only as much as we can rationalize because we want to be able to feel good about ourselves. We’re all capable of dishonesty, and being natural story tellers we’re extremely adept at creating perfectly logical seeming explanations justifying our less than moral actions, though we rarely understand exactly why we make the choices we do. We invariably underestimate how much we are influenced by a myriad of circumstances ranging from conflict of interest to how tired we are feeling.
Since we want to see ourselves as good, most of us never stray far from the straight and narrow path, but small frequent transgressions can create bigger problems than the egregious acts of a few bad apples. Our collective peccadilloes can wreck havoc, but with an improved understanding of the situations that increase dishonest behavior Arliey hopes his book can be a guide for corrective actions and legislation.
I won an uncorrected proof from goodreads First Reads.
It's a bit disheartening, and perhaps a bit relieving, to know it just apparently in our nature and that to control it we need to be monitored.
The book is an easy, entertaining and quick read. Like many of these types of books, in order to fill up pages there is a small amount of repetitiveness. But not nearly so much as others I could name that fill up 40 to 50% of the book by repeating themselves.
Good science - Ariely takes his well-done experiments and research out of the college labs,
Good writing - clear, smart, graceful, engaging, but no forced humor. He clearly cares, sincerely, about what he's studying, and wants to share it with us. No self-righteousness, no pretentiousness, no grubbing for fame or fortune... just a talented, hard-working teacher exploring the frontiers of behavioral economics & psychology with us.
I will say the book is not perfect. The man is influenced by his personal environment, of course. (He'd be the first to admit it.) One footnote mentions that he recently 'discovered' the concept of 'work-hours' (as in, how many hours of wages does it take to pay for a dinner out or a new jacket...). Well, I'm sorry, but I figured this out when I was 17, when I got my first paycheck. Didn't you?
Or more specifically, [W]e all remember the time college friends offered us pizza and beer in exchange for helping them move." Um, no, Dan, we don't.
But those are totally minor quibble. The book is *not* written at a college level, and *is* relevant to all.
We may think we understand white lies, the fudge factor, rationalizations & justifications, plagiarism, pirating, & counterfeiting, wishful blindness, the 'what-the-hell' effect and the 'knew-it-all-along' attitude, the benefits of cooperation, sunshine policies & transparency, story-telling & creativity, temptation & self-deception, etc. etc. - but we've never explored them like this before.
And what about contagion, ego depletion, and resetting rituals? Not sure what those are? Read and find out! And learn how to spot & counter dishonesty in yourself, your co-workers, even your doctor.
Yep, that's right. I'm now actually glad my doctor is joining MDVIP so I have an excuse to get a new one. Betcha you're intrigued now, even if you weren't before! :)"
1. Many people did lie or cheat in different circumstances. Were there any consistent behaviors in some people? If so,
2. Does religion, gender, education, age or any other traits change the results? Most of the studies occur on college campuses, which are not statistically applicable to all of humanity.
3. I would like to see more research into what methods would work in helping individuals see their own actions as dishonest. People always want a good self image and will be creative in telling themselves stories to explain their actions as good and not dishonest. What are some ways to help us keep from lying to ourselves? Ariely briefly looks at this issue, but more depth would be great.