First, he found that while a small group of sociopaths will cheat virtually all the time, even most ordinary people will cheat a little, when given the opportunity. In experiments he ran on approximately 30,000 people, he found that a small number will cheat in big ways, and 18,000 will succumb to smaller deceptions.
People seem to be very specific about the dishonest acts that they can live with. For example, someone might steal a Coke out of a refrigerator at work, but not pick up a dollar bill that is left sitting out nearby. Golfers are less likely to slightly move a ball with their hands than to move it the same distance with the club.
Dan Ariely and his researchers also found that people are more like to cheat when they are tired. He refers to this as depletion, and he notes that people cheat more in the evening than in the morning.
Cheating and telling lies can also spread within industries and companies. People seem to actually be affected by the notion that "everyone else is doing it, so I should, too." This may be what happened when mortgage fraud spread throughout the industry. According to Ariely, he found that people on Wall Street are more likely to cheat than politicians when both groups were given a math test in which they were asked to self-report their scores.
The researchers who worked with Ariely to study cheaters came to the conclusion that most people are conflicted about cheating. On one hand, most folks want to see themselves as honest people. On the other hand, many of us are quite willing to cheat a "little" as a way to get money or "win" in other ways.
Have you ever cheated in order to win a bet or avoid an expense? Be honest! If you are interested in learning more about why people lie and cheat, you may want to pick up a copy of Dan Ariely's book.
You are reading from the blog: http://lies-and-liars.blogspot.com/
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