Dan Ariely is doing great work in behavioral economics. In promoting his most recent book, The Honest Truth About Dishonesty, he recently wrote a piece for the Wall Street Journal. In it he outlines how most of us are "a little" dishonest on a regular basis--though some people are boldly and often dishonest.
The challenge is to provide people with inoculations against their daily failings. Ariely has discovered that making people (even atheists) read the 10 Commandments before doing a task makes them more honest. He also finds that signing insurance applications before filling them out as opposed to the traditional method of signing them on completion makes people more honest.
What we need for politicians is to have them commit to some moral guidelines before they seek office.
You can read my original post for my choice of guidelines. What are some others you think would work?
No comments:
Post a Comment