Lies, Cheating and the Slippery Slope
by Miki Saxon
Lying and cheating are common occurrences and recent research shows that, contrary to popular wisdom (wishful thinking?), they do not make people feel badly.
In an interview, Dan Ariely, a leading behavioral economist at Duke and author of The (Honest) Truth About Dishonesty: How We Lie to Everyone – Especially Ourselves, made two comments that especially caught my eye for both their perception and accuracy.
“I have had lots of discussions with big cheaters — insider trading, accounting fraud, people who have sold games in the NBA, doping in sports. With one exception, all of them were stories of slippery slopes.”
“When you are in the midst of it, you are in a very, very different mindset…. You are not a psychopath, and you are not cheating. You are doing what everybody else is doing.”
There’s a lot I could say about this, but I prefer to share a quote that KG sent me after reading the article.
I believe it is the key to the solution and states it succinctly.
It is my belief no man ever understands quite his own artful dodges to escape from the grim shadow of self-knowledge.
The question is not how to get cured, but how to live. –Joseph Conrad (1857 – 1924)
The only problem with this solution is that it requires self-awareness, personal effort, determination and grit.
All of which are in short supply these days.
Flickr image credit: Sean MacEntee
