Why we lie, go to prison and eat cake: 10 questions with Dan Ariely

Published: Friday, June 22 2012 5:19 p.m. MDT

Summary

Wired senior editor Joanna Pearlstein spoke with Dan Ariely on his new book, "The (Honest) Truth About Dishonesty" as part of the Live Talks Business Forums series at the City Club of Los Angeles. Ariely’s new book explores some of the surprising reasons we lie to each other, and ourselves.

Our take: Dan Ariely shares insights into why honesty is about more than just cost benefit analysis.

If you thought that crime or dishonesty is driven by a cost-benefit analysis, then you have some very basic solutions for example, put people in prison. And people who were going to commit a crime would say, Okay, Ill go to prison, not worth it. Ive been talking to big cheaters, including people who have been to prison, and I tell you, nobody Ive talked to has ever thought about the long-term consequences of their actions.

We talk about honesty, but the reality is we have lots of human values, and they are not all compatible. We dont always tell the truth about everything, no matter what the consequences. If you have an internal truth of what you think and you have an external truth of what you say to society, in the social domain its called politeness, and its many cases its okay.

Read more about the nature of lying on Wired.

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