Why are people honest or dishonest?

You ask your secretary if she finished typing up the minutes of yesterday’s budget committee meeting. She did not, and her answer will reflect a choice between honesty and dishonesty.

You ask your viola student if he practiced his lesson according to the schedule you set for him. He did not, but he has a choice. He can exercise honesty or dishonesty in answering you.

Your school principal has zero tolerance for teacher tardiness, but shopping on your lunch break took longer than expected. As you pass his office, he questions your tardiness, giving you a choice between honesty and dishonesty.

We face that choice many times in any given day. What makes us choose one over the other?

Honesty should be the easier of the two, since it involves a clear statement of reality. You don’t need to think hard or get creative. You just tell it like it is. Once you’ve told it, you don’t work to remember it. If you’re asked again later, you’ll say the same thing. It’s reality. You’ll remember.

Dishonesty requires work – sometimes hard work! You have to come up with a pretend reality that sounds plausible, even though it isn’t reality. You have to be prepared to elaborate if your questioner asks for detail. You have to work in an excuse for your failure to meet expectations. You have to be good at the childish game of “Let’s Pretend” if you’re going to be dishonest

Why would you choose to lie?

The answer, secondary to religious tenets, is that those who choose to lie do so because they lack character. They do not treasure high moral values as they ought. Before you disagree with me, consider the evidence.

You believe in the rightness of honesty, don’t you? Most people do. “Honesty is the best policy” became a well-known phrase because people agree with it. We agree that it’s right to tell the truth, wrong to lie.

Since character is a matter of doing what’s right, men and women of character choose honesty over dishonesty. General character demands that choice.

Drilling down to more specific reasons, we find courage of convictions – standing firm on right principles no matter what personal sacrifice may be required. Honesty demands personal sacrifice. You may have to “lose face” to exercise honesty. You have to admit that you didn’t get your work done on time; took too much time shopping; or forgot an assignment. Humans don’t like personal sacrifice. We don’t like to lose face, but those who exercise the courage of their convictions will do so in order to choose honesty.

Responsibility is another specific character trait that requires honesty. If you had a task to fulfill and you failed to do so, you would be irresponsible to lie. You’ll remember the Siamese twins: Responsibility and Accountability.

Respect demands honesty, too. That person to whom you are about to give an answer has value. He or she is important enough to merit a clear statement of reality.

I encourage you to consider the impact of other character traits as well.

In the future, I would be greatly interested in your examination of why people are honest or dishonest. Most responses are either rooted in economic theory (models of rational and selfish behavior) psychological Motivation due to images of self concept) or moral. I need to study your site more thoroughly, thank you for your excellent work. MJK