The Dishonesty of Honest People (Paper Summary)

Dishonesty of Honest People: A theory of Self-Concept maintenance.
Main idea




People think of themselves as honest.
Yes, in reality dishonesty pays quite generously (give examples)
The paper demonstrates that their convenience people become dishonest enough to profit but also behave honestly enough to maintain their self-concept.

Why are People Dishonest?


















Origins of theory date from Adam Smith/Thomas Hobbes using Homo Economicus as a base reference. Aka “Rational Man” who acts consciously and deliberately to trade off benefits and costs of dishonest acts.
Within a dishonest act there is normally a balance of tradeoffs: 1. the amount that is to be gained 2. Likelihood of getting caught 3. Magnitude of punishment
People base their decision to be dishonest based on these trade-offs.
( Financial Perspective) This external cost-benefit framework lends to 3 hypotheses affecting amount of dishonest actions: 1. Higher magnitude of external rewards 2. Low probability of getting caught 3.Lower magnitude of punishment
They propose that one main way in which the internal reward system exerts control over behavior is influenced by ones self-concept
(Psychological perspective) Decision to be honest or not based on internal rewards (based on norms and values in society.
Compliance with such norms provides internal positive rewards, non –compliance leads to negative internal rewards punishments)
If a person fails to comply with to comply with internal standards of honesty, self-concept will be negatively updated
If person complies with internal standards of honesty, positive self-concept will be updated
They suggest in their work that people overcome this dilemma “self-concept” dilemma by finding a balance between the 2 motivating forces. Hence they propose a magnitudinal range of dishonesty within which people can cheat but still maintain their positive self-concept
This achieved by: 1.