Dishonesty

Friend of Washminster, former Congressman, Bob Carr – is now teaching an "Ethics and Congress" class at the Graduate School of Political Management at George Washington University [Legislative Affairs Course]- On the reading list is an interesting book which I read last weekend “ The (Honest) Truth About Dishonesty”, by Dan Ariely.

Mr Ariely considers how widespread dishonesty is – yes, ALL of us have a penchant for dishonesty and cheating – though we are superb at justifying ourselves and our behaviour (and not bad in conning ourselves either). The book looks at this tendency – why it arises – and what can suppress it. He also discusses a “fudge factor theory”. There are some interesting results from behavioural studies. I would recommend to everyone.