Why We Lie

Not exactly the theological angle here that I would find ultimately persuasive, yet this study is quite interesting and points to our collective brokenness.

DAN ARIELY writing for the Wall Street Journal:

Everybody has the capacity to be dishonest, and almost everybody cheats—just by a little. Except for a few outliers at the top and bottom, the behavior of almost everyone is driven by two opposing motivations. On the one hand, we want to benefit from cheating and get as much money and glory as possible; on the other hand, we want to view ourselves as honest, honorable people. Sadly, it is this kind of small-scale mass cheating, not the high-profile cases, that is most corrosive to society.

Read the rest.