"Most of us think of ourselves as honest, but, in fact, we all cheat. From Washington to Wall Street, the classroom to the workplace, unethical behavior is everywhere. None of us is immune, whether it's a white lie to head off trouble or padding our expense reports. In The (Honest) Truth About Dishonesty, award-winning, bestselling author Dan Ariely shows why some things are easier to lie about than others; how getting caught matters less than we think in whether we cheat; and how business practices pave the way for unethical behavior, both intentionally and unintentionally. Ariely explores how unethical behavior works in the personal, professional, and political worlds, and how it affects all of us, even as we think of ourselves as having high moral standards. But all is not lost. Ariely also identifies what keeps us honest, pointing the way for achieving higher ethics in our everyday lives"--Back cover

Why is dishonesty so interesting? -- Testing the Simple Model of Rational Crime (SMORC) -- Fun with the fudge factor -- Golf -- Blinded by our own motivations -- Why we blow it when we're tired -- Why wearing fakes makes us cheat more -- Cheating ourselves -- Creativity and dishonesty: We are all storytellers -- Cheating as an infection: How we catch the dishonesty germ -- Collaborative cheating: Why two heads aren't necessarily better than one -- A semioptimistic ending: People don't cheat enough! Why is Dishonesty so Interesting? -- From Enron to our own misbehaviors -- A fascination with cheating -- Becker's parking problem and the birth of national crime -- Elderly volunteers and petty thieves -- Why behavioral economics and dishonesty? -- 1. Testing the Simple Model of Rational Crime (SMORC). -- Get rich cheating -- Tempting people to cheat, the measure of dishonesty -- What we know versus what we think we know about dishonesty -- Cheating when we can't get caught -- Market vendors, cab drivers, and cheating the blind -- Fishing and tall tales -- Striking a balance between truth and cheating -- 2 Fun With the Fudge Factor. -- Why some things are easier to steal than others -- How companies pave the way for dishonesty -- Token dishonesty -- How pledges, commandments, honor codes, and paying with cash can support honesty -- But lock your doors just the same -- And a bit about religion, the IRS, and insurance companies -- 2B. Golf -- Man versus himself -- A four-inch lie -- Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to take the mulligan -- Schrödinger's scorecard -- 3 Blinded by Our Own Motivations -- Craze lines, tattoos, and how conflicts of interest distort our perception -- How favors affect our choices -- Why full disclosure and other policies aren't fully effective -- Imagining less conflicted compensation -- Disclosure and regulation are the answers, or not -- 4 Why We Blow it When We're Tired -- Why we don't binge in the morning -- Willpower: another limited resource -- Judgment on an empty stomach -- How flexing our cognitive and moral muscles can make us more dishonest -- Self-depletion and a rational theory of temptation -- 5 Why Wearing Fakes Makes us Cheat More -- The secret language of shoes -- From ermine to Armani and the importance of signaling -- Do knockoffs knock down our standards of honesty? -- Can gateway fibs lead to monster lies? -- When "what the hell" wreaks havoc -- There's no such thing as one little white lie -- Halting the downward spiral. 6 Cheating Ourselves. Claws and peacock tails -- When answer keys tell us what we already knew -- Overly optimistic IQ scores -- The center for advanced hindsight -- Being Kubrick ; War heroes and sports heroes who let us down ; Helping ourselves to a better self-image -- 7 Creativity and Dishonesty: We are All Storytellers -- The tales we tell ourselves and how we create stories we can believe -- Why creative people are better liars -- Redrawing the lines until we see what we want -- When irritation spurs us onward -- How thinking creatively can get us into trouble -- 8 Cheating as an Infection: How we Catch the Dishonesty Germ -- Catching the cheating bug -- One bad apple really does spoil the barrel (unless that apple goes to the University of Pittsburgh) ; How ambiguous rules + group dynamics = cultures of cheating -- A possible road to ethical health -- 9 Collaborative Cheating: Why Two Heads Aren't Necessarily Better Than One -- Lessons from an ambiguous boss -- All eyes are on you: observation and cheating -- Working together to cheat more? -- Or keeping one another in line -- Cheating charitably -- Building trust and taking liberties -- Playing well with others -- 10 A Semioptimistic Ending: People Don't Cheat Enough!. Cheer up! Why we should not be too depressed by this book -- True crime -- Cultural differences in dishonesty -- Politicians or bankers, who cheats more? -- How can we improve our moral health?