Dan Ariely Why We Lie

Summary Analysis of Why We Lie
Why We Lie written by Dan Ariely is an informative article. To understand the article, summary is used to help pick out the main ideas and points that the author is trying to make. Analysis goes step by step and looks at sections by detail to determine and examine content. Summary, on the other hand, looks at the article as a whole. Analysis helps the reader understand and focus more on what points the author is trying to get to the reader. Summarizing and analyzing assist to further comprehend Why We Lie.
The purpose of Why We Lie was written to inform the readers. It was written to show and tell others different reasons and situations that cause more or less lying. The author did multiple experiments at

a college and constructed the article based off of the results. The experiments consisted of a math matrix, reciting and recalling, and some insurance forms. He decided to experiment with what makes people lie. The first experiment was the math matrix. He uses a control group with nothing to promote cheating. The results came and on average each student could solve between four and five puzzles in five minutes.

Then he began the actual experiment and to “encourage” the lying there was a reward of money based on how many puzzles could be solved. The college students were placed in a room all together with no supervision, they were only allowed to work alone. And to see just how much people lie, Ariely allowed the students to record how many they got correct on their own. Ariely describes that suddenly all of the students seemed to become smarter. He believes the money, increased the lying. On the next experiment he allows the students to shred their paper. The “shredder method” according to Ariely increased the amount of cheaters. But that was not the only variable that affected the number of cheating. The amount of money affected the amount of lying the students did. Another situation that he used during the experiment was instead of receiving straight money after completing the matrix, they would receive tokens. Then they could trade the tokens in for items. This almost doubled the cheaters and liars. In conclusion, he lost more money to the students lying about the small amount, than the few students who lied about a large amount. The more experiments he did, the more creative he got. He then increased the

amount of money, had an actor claim he got all the puzzles right and more. But when the amount of money increased there was less liars, then again when the actor claimed he got all the puzzles correct the amount of lying increased. On multiple other experiments he concluded with the same results. That only very few people cheat by a great amount, and the majority of people cheated by a small amount.In conclusion Ariely decides that the small amount of cheating should be more discouraged than the large amount because it is even more contagious.
As already stated, the article was written for informative purposes. Originally it was written in the Wall Street Journal from The (Honest) Truth about Dishonesty, and was a very formal and scientifical article. The article was fairly easy to read and understand. But when Ariely got into the more scientific reasons it could become confusing. He gives much detail to understand his work. All of his experiments, he provided with results and reasons to provide truth. This article is not very humorous because it was originally written for a magazine article. And lying and cheating is not a very humorous topic. He is a well known writer and Ariely uses ethos in his writing. He is a very credible writer, he writes regularly in Wall Street Journal and publishes scores of papers in academic journals. He also has two PhD’s in cognitive psychology and in business administration. He also wrote Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions and The (Honest) Truth about Dishonesty: How We Lie to Everyone--Especially Ourselves. He is a trusted writer because he has a lot of experience in psychology. Ariely is writes for informative purposes and to help others.
The view of Ariely and mine are similar. I do know that if everybody does just lie a small amount is a greater effect than those who lie by a large amount. Also, lying by just a small amount is “contagious” and can lead to more liars and more lying of that person. The rest of the society and world may have a different outlook about lying than I do. Everybody else may believe small lies are not harmful, and can even help out in life. I, on the other hand, do not agree. I believe that there is no reason to lie and that lying does not help any situation, it only makes the situation worse. But I also have a horrible conscience, I do not lie because I feel horrible after I do so. Yes, I have lied in the past but I truly try not to.