Response to "Why We Lie"

Hannah Almaden
Melinda Schroeder
English 101
9/30/16


Summary

"Why We Lie" by Dan Ariely is a short read that provides examples of dishonesty within people. The author gives details of various experiments, which each had a different approach, to test if people would lie or cheat to get a good result. While each experiment was changed to switch up the situation, the outcome changed along with it. The author claims that everybody has the ability to be dishonest, and shows that different situations can have an effect on how much, or how little, people lie or cheat.


Paraphrase Paragraph 10

Since we are all well aware that almost everyone cheats, either more or barely at all, we are now left wondering what is causing us to do so.


Favorite Quote

"Although it is obviously important to pay attention to flagrant misbehaviors, it is probably more important to discourage the small and more ubiquitous forms of dishonesty — the misbehavior that affects all of us, as both perpetrators and victims.” (Ariely, par. 26) I chose this quote because I have never thought about small lies this way. I think it is interesting that the author is suggesting that smaller forms of dishonesty are the misbehaviors to be more cautious of, because not only is it contagious, but it can lead to more, and larger, lies. This gave me a different outlook on things, and the more I read it, the more I realize how true it actually is. It is weird to think that the smallest of lies could be the most devious.


Ariely, Dan. "Why We Lie." The Bedford Reader (2014): 440-446. Print.

I commented on Porchia and Shelby's blogs.