The (Honest) Truth About Dishonesty

shareholder value, maximizing of, 208n

Shiv, Baba, 99–100

shopping malls, susceptibility to temptation in, 113

Shu, Lisa, 45, 259

signing forms at top vs. bottom, 46–51

insurance claims and, 49–51

tax reporting and, 46–49

Silverman, Dan, 114–15

Simple Model of Rational Crime (SMORC), 4–6, 11–29, 53, 201, 238, 248

author’s alternative theory to, 27–28; see also fudge factor theory

guest lecturer’s satirical presentation on, 11–14

life in hypothetical world based on, 5–6

matrix task and, 15–23

tested in real-life situations, 23–26

sincerity, principle of, 220n

Skilling, Jeffrey, 2

social norms, infectious nature of cheating and, 195, 201–3, 205–7, 209

social utility, collaborative cheating and, 222–23

South Africa, Truth and Reconciliation Commission in, 253–54

split-brain patients, 164

sports, self-deception in, 155–56

stealing:

Coca-Cola vs. money, 32–33

joke about, 31

resetting mechanisms and, 252–53

from workplace, 31, 33, 193

steroids, in sports, 155–56

storytelling:

creation of logical-sounding explanations and, 163–65

reinterpreting information in self-serving way in, 187–88

self-deception and, 142–43

Stroop task, 109–12

opportunity to cheat on, 111–12

Suckers, Swindlers, and an Ambivalent State (Balleisen), 188

sumptuary laws, 120

sunshine policies, 88, 91–92

suspiciousness of others:

fake products and, 131–34

self-deception and, 158–59

Tali (research assistant), 21, 24–26

Taliban, 152

Talmud, 45

Tang, Thomas, 44

tax returns, 45–49

IRS reaction to author’s findings on, 47–49

rationalization of exaggerated deductions in, 27–28

signing at top vs. bottom, 46–49

technological frontiers, potential for dishonesty and, 188

temptation, resisting of:

cognitive load and, 99–100

dieting and, 98, 109, 112–13, 114–15

ego depletion and, 100–116

evenings as difficult time for, 102

physical exhaustion and, 97–98

removing oneself from tempting situations and, 108–11, 115–16

in shopping malls, 113

Ten Commandments, 39–40, 41, 44, 204, 250

This American Life, 6–7

Three Men in a Boat (to Say Nothing of the Dog) (Jerome), 28

Time, 215

token experiment, 33–34

Tolkien, J. R. R., 223

Tour de France, 155

tragedy-of-the-commons situations, 40–41

travel reimbursements, 46, 47

Truth and Reconciliation Commission, 253–54

Turkey, cheating in, 242

University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), 39–40

University of Newcastle, 224

University of Pittsburgh, 204–7

University of Waterloo, Canada, 155

Upside of Irrationality, The (Ariely), 177

U.S. Open (1925), 56

vending machine study, 194–95

veterans, exaggerated service records and, 152–53

Wall Street Journal, 135

Wang, Shirley, 241–42

Warner Bros., 150

watching or monitoring, as disincentive to cheating, 223–25, 227–28, 234–35

Watkins, Sherron, 215

Weiss, Dan, 6–7

what-the-hell effect, 127–31

combating moral deterioration of, 140

dieting and, 127, 130

fake academic credentials and, 136

fake products and, 127–31, 135

honesty threshold and, 130–31

resetting rituals and, 249, 250–53

white lies, 159–61

white matter, in brain, 170

Wilde, Oscar, 28

willpower, see temptation, resisting of

Wilson, Duff, 82

Wilson, James, 214–15

Wilson, Wim, 163–64

wishful blindness, 2

work hours, viewing decisions in terms of, 86n

workplace, stealing at, 31, 33, 193

WorldCom, 13, 215

Yale, honor code experiment at, 41–42

Yang, Yaling, 168–70

Thanks

I find writing about academic research to be fulfilling and stimulating, but the pleasure that I get day in and day out comes from working jointly with amazing researchers/friends—coming up with ideas, designing experiments, finding out what works and doesn’t work, and figuring out what the results mean. The research described here is largely a product of my collaborators’ ingenuity and efforts (see the following biographies of my outstanding colleagues), and I am grateful that we have been able to travel together in the landscape of dishonesty and together learn a bit about this important and fascinating topic.

In addition, I am also thankful to social scientists at large. The world of social science is an exciting place in which new ideas are constantly generated, data collected, and theories revised (some more than others). Every day I learn new things from my fellow researchers and am reminded of how much I don’t know (for a partial list of references and additional readings, see the end of this book).