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The (Honest) Truth About Dishonesty
Book

The (Honest) Truth About Dishonesty

How We Lie to Everyone – Especially Ourselves

Harper, 2012 Mehr


Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Innovative
  • Concrete Examples
  • Engaging

Recommendation

Dan Ariely admits he’s a liar and a cheat, just like everybody else. The author and social scientist humbly uses his own stories – along with plenty of research – to illustrate factors that motivate cheating and lying. Citing fairly simple experiments, Ariely shows how one little lie leads to another and another. For example, he once skipped a long airport line by exaggerating a medical condition to obtain a wheelchair. He fell so hard for his own lie that he became indignant about the airport’s poor accommodations for his ailment. Ariely is a precise writer and an excellent storyteller. Despite some redundancies, getAbstract recommends this book to liars, to cheaters, to the managers who put up with them and to you, the only honest person on Earth.

Take-Aways

  • Everyone cheats a little.
  • Thinking rationally about cheating – such as evaluating your chances of getting caught – does not affect whether you will cheat.
  • Even when you lie, you probably will still think you are a good person.

About the Author

Dan Ariely is the James B. Duke professor of psychology and behavioral economics at Duke University. He wrote The Upside of Irrationality and Predictably Irrational.


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