Dan Ariely shares findings from a five-month study testing Shaper, his health venture that created a display-free smart scale.
Assertion Partly supported
Abstract dishonesty experiment found identical cheating rates across all countries
“Then Francesca Gino, my friend, said, ah, come to Italy. We'll show you what the Italians can do. The Italians cheated just the same. We tried Turkey. We tried South Africa, Kenya, Germany, Sweden. We tried Portugal. We tried the UK. We tried Canada because th…”
Insight
Culture dictates domain-specific dishonesty rather than fundamental individual corruption
“Culture matters, but it matters in silos. What happened is that deep down inside, just because you grew up in Kenya or in another corrupt country, it doesn't mean that you become corrupt as an individual. It just means that culture come and says there are some…”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Recruiters secretly prefer hiring candidates who will cheat for the company
“We gave MBAs resumes of potential job candidates. And in those resumes, those people were either told, said that they were, it was said about them that they were either dishonest in their personal lives, like to the significant other. They were dishonest at wo…”
Insight
Standard economics only works for perfectly rational agents
“And then because of that standard economics continues in having recommendation that are really good for people who are perfectly rational. Whereas behavioral economics makes recommendations that are good for normal people.”
Insight
Almost no company is willing to seriously address institutional dishonesty
“It's kind of interesting that when you talk about, you know, how to get people to save more, it's easier to get people to do something, how to get people to be healthier. But when you talk about honesty, almost no company is interested in taking like a real, r…”
Insight
Complex and deliberate actions require explicit rules rather than habits
“And you can't have a habit of running, right? You don't go running and then you say, oh, where am I? I have no idea. I was running. So, so for things that are deliberate and take actions, you need something more than a habit.”