What makes people cheat? [video](ted.com)
ted.com
What makes people cheat? [video]
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/dan_ariely_on_our_buggy_moral_code.html
3 comments
I'd say the main point of the talk is out intuition is often wrong therefore it should be tested whenever possible.
It seems obvious, but more often when not the wrong assumptions are not tested.
* When reminded of their own (self-image) morality, people cheat less
* Magnitude of cheating is independent from a risk to be caught (people are predictably irrational)
* When a member of a group demonstrates cheating behaviour, members cheat more. When non-member of a group demonstrates cheating, people cheat less
From the above it follows that players on the stock market are doomed (or blessed) to cheat.
It seems obvious, but more often when not the wrong assumptions are not tested.
* When reminded of their own (self-image) morality, people cheat less
* Magnitude of cheating is independent from a risk to be caught (people are predictably irrational)
* When a member of a group demonstrates cheating behaviour, members cheat more. When non-member of a group demonstrates cheating, people cheat less
From the above it follows that players on the stock market are doomed (or blessed) to cheat.
s/out intuition/our intuition/
Can we reduce piracy by having "morality reminders" in software? For example, every once in a while, you could ask the user whether they paid for the app. If they did not, you might tell them that piracy is not all that common and that most people are actually more honest than they are.
I was employed by a company that makes bible software, and they did exactly this. Very rarely, while the user was reading the bible using this software, it would pop up a dialog box reminding the user how wrong it is to copy software illegally. They actually got people calling them and apologizing, apparently in real agony over their sin. It must have seemed like a message from god.
Like with many other measures to prevent piracy, the crackers would find ways to remove the morality reminders and the paying customers would get stuck with them.
Here's an outline of some of Dan Ariely's studies which I keep in Instapaper for when I need some extra fascinating topics to discuss with friends:
http://bookoutlines.pbwiki.com/Predictably-Irrational
http://bookoutlines.pbwiki.com/Predictably-Irrational
Wow, honestly I was just going to watch bits and pieces of this video to "check out" the topic.
Instead I got sucked in pretty quickly with his stories/experiments/results.
It is fascinating that Dan Ariely studies society to the degree that he does. Kind of comforting.
saved... /social_hacking_201/
It is fascinating that Dan Ariely studies society to the degree that he does. Kind of comforting.
saved... /social_hacking_201/
* Most people cheat a little and more often compared to cheating a lot and less often.
* When reminded of morality, people cheat less.
* The greater the distance from cheating to reward the more likely people are to cheat.