As other reviewers have posted, the "Honest Truth About Dishonesty" is an interesting book in and of itself to gain a better understanding of how behavioral economists approach business-related topics. I decided to read it more specifically in the context of two issues now in the news. First, there's the political debate about the goals and methods of people in power (a.k.a. the 1%, new upper class, or elites). In his book "Coming Apart" Charles Murray describes these elites in glowing terms as the people with brains and creativity who are identified by tests like the SAT, thrown together in elite universities and then again in corporate and government jobs to propel our economy and society forward. But in his book "Twilight of the Elites" Chris Hayes describes how some of these same elites have in fact propelled us through a failed decade where they have perpetrated frauds, engaged in unethical and dangerous behaviors for profit, and allowed cheating to become a norm in their institutions.
Second is the issue of how we are all affected in this kind of make-it-up-as-you-go environment. In his book "A Piece of the Action" Joe Nocera described in 1994 how the money revolution had "created a layer of complication to our already complicated lives, adding responsibilities that didn't exist before, making it necessary for us to learn about things that never used to be among our concerns. We can make mistakes with our money now, and those mistakes can be costly." In the almost 20 years since Nocera wrote that, things have only gotten more complicated -- what with vanishing pensions, gyrating stock markets, more onerous health care options, and housing crises. Hayes wonders now "whether the greatest threat we face is distrust ... in a society bankrupted by norms and order or ... the actual malfeasance and corruption of the pillar institutions themselves."
So with my interest in those two particular issues -- both clearly affected by dishonesty -- Dan Ariely's book promised to add some unique insights. While there is no shortage of opinions on these topics, Ariely comes at them from a fresh and non-political perspective. His chapter intros and set-ups to his various studies allude to these bigger issues, but he structures his experiments to learn psychologically whether and why people cheat in specific and controlled situations. Another reviewer commented that college students might not be the best subjects to use, but by Murray's reckoning this is the formative age where many of our future decision-makers start to establish their work habits, their team interactions, their moralities, and their sense of how far they can go before they get caught. I especially like how Ariely structures his chapters -- and presumably the series of experiments he selects -- around extensions of earlier experiments he's already conducted. So if people do cheat, do they cheat more as they get tired? Do they admit to themselves that they cheat under certain situations? Do they cheat more when they see others cheating around them? Do they cheat more when they're working creatively? By covering each of these and more aspects in separate chapters, you can see how these propensities to cheat might build upon each other, especially in work situations when the pressure is on to perform in opportunistic environments.
So what did I take from Ariely's work on the two topics I was interested in? While the book does not have specific chapters that address either of these two issues in those exact framings, Ariely does describe situations and scenarios that both leaders and each of us find ourselves in which actual dishonesty or the temptation to benefit dishonestly comes into play. On the elite dishonesty topic, one can see how a group of people under pressure to find new ways of making money, to get around specific regulations, or to take advantage of new technologies might be predisposed to cheat. Knowing that other people are billing more liberally and being less than honest almost forces honest people to skirt the rules. Ariely points out that creative people who are driven to make their organizations win are often the most effective liars and cheaters. He explains -- much as Nocera did in describing new financial products 17 years ago -- how new technologies are often used initially to gain unfair advantages over consumers until regulators and consumers figure them out and protect themselves better. All of this indicates how cheating can become rampant without constant vigilance. I would assume Ariely supports a more regulatory environment, given what he knows about what people do when left to their own devices.
Ariely also offers some observations about how and why it is difficult for all of us to protect ourselves when marketers have taken advantage of people's readiness to cut corners. He describes how pharmaceutical reps are trained to offer samples and freebies to doctors until the doctors feel obliged to then lean in their direction. And how our trust in doctors, bankers and financial advisors after working with them for long periods almost makes us bigger marks for recommending actions that may not actually be necessary. As you read these chapters, you get the feeling that we almost expect to be cheated because we might cheat ourselves in similar circumstances.
All in all, the book is a little depressing because it implies that -- since we are all somewhat afflicted by doing things we can get away with -- we may not be so eager to punish others for their dishonesty. No one has been prosecuted for their misdeeds in causing the mortgage debacle, for instance, when previously executives were prosecuted for the Enron and Worldcom frauds. Are we just getting used to these behaviors, even when they almost destroy our economy? Are we so dependent now on the elites that run our institutions that we can overlook these "small discretions" because if they're successful it may lead to improved economies and job creation? Is it becoming more true that the ends justify the means?
Ariely does not offer any specific ideas for curbing dishonesty. For instance, as a professor he is aware that his students use their laptops and cellphones to "multitask" during his classes and that some students may go to essay mills to purchase term papers. He went so far as to try to purchase an essay from one of these "services" to assess the state of that "industry." Upon seeing what he got, Ariely observes, "we were rather relieved, figuring that the day had not yet arrived when students can submit papers from essay mills and get good grades. Moreover, we concluded that if students did try to buy a paper from an essay mill, just like us, they would feel they had wasted their money and wouldn't try again." In other words, it wasn't that it was wrong that they did it ... only that the technology hadn't figured out yet how to provide such services. The onward march of fraud and corruption.
Ariely summarizes that while most people have a propensity to cheat, by and large we all "pass up the vast majority of these opportunities every day without thinking we should take them. This means that we're off to a good start in our effort to improve our moral fiber." My assessment is that if you read the book you'll know better to protect yourself and have some idea of why the people you might have trusted are motivated to cheat.
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