Cheat at golf, cheat at work
Behavioral economist Dan Ariely tells Kai Ryssdal about a survey of golfers that exposed how their approach to the game correlated to the way they worked.
A finger is poised to flick a golf ball into the hole. (iStockPhoto)
Dan Ariely
TEXT OF INTERVIEW
Kai Ryssdal: Here's a quick news item by way of introduction to our next story. New York City has a law that says restaurants have to post the calorie content for each item on their menus -- on the theory that that'll encourage people to order healthier meals. Research out today shows that theory has some flaws in it. Like, people don't actually make better choices. Even with the calorie count posted, diners picked meals that were worse for them. Little white lies to ourselves to make it easier to order the Big Mac, I suppose.
Behavioral economist Dan Ariely is back talking about a different set of white lies and what they might say about the way we do business. Dan, good to have you here again.
DAN ARIELY: Nice to be here.
Ryssdal: I hate to say this, but we're back to one of your favorite subjects: cheating.
ARIELY: Well, you don't need to call it my favorite topic, but it definitely is something I'm interested in.
Ryssdal: Well, all right, well, do tell here. You've got golf and cheating. Is that the score?
ARIELY: I thought about golf and cheating because it looked to me like golf is something that actually could teach us something about the business world. And think about it. Golf is a team effort. I mean, you play with other people, but it's also an individual endeavor. Everybody basically gets to control themselves and decide what rules to follow and what rules not to follow. And golf, much like accounting and other things, have lots and lots of rules. So I was curious about what people cheat in golf, and how much they cheat.
Ryssdal: All right, first let me preface this by saying we will get e-mails from many, many golfers who say the joy and the glory of that sport is that golfers follow the rules. They are honorable law-abiding people who never, ever cheat, and that's the principle of the game.
ARIELY: Uh, yes...
Ryssdal: I'm just saying.
ARIELY: I'm sure you'll get calls like this. But nevertheless we got a golf company to help us out, and they sent e-mails to their users. And we got about 17,000 people to respond. And first of all, as you would expect, they admitted to cheat less than they thought other people cheat. It was curious to see different the patterns of cheating. So first of all there's something called a mulligan. And a mulligan is the idea that you hit the first shot, and it doesn't work very well, and you get a do-over, as the kids say, right? You start again. And what's interesting is that people feel very good about taking a mulligan on the first hole of the day; they don't feel very good about taking it on the ninth hole. Another interesting thing that we find is that people have a relatively easy time writing on their scorecard a different number than the number of strokes they really took.
Ryssdal: Yeah, because nobody is watching, right?
ARIELY: But once they write these numbers down, they have a harder time adding it up wrongly.
Ryssdal: Right, right. It's easier to cheat in the moment then?
ARIELY: It's easier to cheat in the moment, and it's easier to cheat when there's like no traces for this cheating.
Ryssdal: These 17,000 people, Dan, did they list occupation when they responded to this survey? Do we know how the accountants did, and how the doctors did?
ARIELY: We do know how they did. First of all, it turns out that people in the pharmaceutical industry cheated a lot, but they also said their industry is the most honest that there is. There are some other interesting comparisons. For example, if you look at law enforcement, education and government, people in those three industries basically cheat on average, as do people in sales, marketing, advertising and so on. But the people in law enforcement, education and government think that they're the most honest, while the people in sales and marketing and advertising cheat just the same but they think they come from industries that are much less honest.
Ryssdal: Bring this back to the workplace for me then. What does this tell us about the way things get done in this country, and how we actually do and manage our economy?
ARIELY: First of all, I think cheating in golf is kind of a good example for how we think about day-to-day tasks. The fact that people can take a mulligan or how they can cheat on golf, I think tells us that's there a lot of corner bending that we see in the business world. And what I worry about is that once we start in this path of immorality, even with small bending of rules and cutting corners here and there, that this tendency could become bigger and bigger and really a part of the collective understanding of how business is actually done.
Ryssdal: Dan Ariely teaches behavioral economics at Duke University. His book is called "Predictably Irrational." Dan, thanks a lot.
ARIELY: My pleasure.
Ryssdal: Hey Dan, wait, before I let you go. Who is the most honest? Do we know that?
ARIELY: Well, the most honest quite surprisingly were the people from the insurance industry.
Ryssdal: Really?
ARIELY: Could you believe it? Yeah, they cheated...it turns that they thought they were not particularly honest as an industry, but in our sample they cheated the least.
Ryssdal: So what does that tell you?
ARIELY: Well, it does tell me I'm having a renewed belief in my insurance agent right now. Or maybe it tells us that the people who from AIG have left the market are not playing golf right now.
Ryssdal: Oh man. Oh my goodness.
ARIELY: That's cruel.
Comments
Comment | Refresh
From Delhi, India, 01/17/2010
This is awesome, Really, These examples which are taken from real life make me go into introspection mode.
I dont play golf but I can very well relate to the study, I also saw your video Dan, and I must say I have become a fan of yours and will buy your book immediately.
Raj
http://thepositivelife.com
From Indianapolis, IN, 10/07/2009
The study showing that insurance agents cheat less at golf couldn't be more true. During a round I (sales rep) am likely to take a couple mulligans and maybe a few fluffs. While my buddy (ins. agent) uses words like "provisional," "out of bounds," and "stroke penalty." I chuckled after hearing this story.
From NC, 10/07/2009
Speaking of cheating, doesn't the term "hedge fund" make you think someone is cheating?
10/07/2009
I don't think Dan needs to be worried about when we "start" down the path to immorality. The study is cross-sectional, for one, but more importantly I think cheating is as old as humanity.
10/07/2009
I've never thoght of insurance companies as particularly dishonest. Rather, I think of them more as just a ruthless and incompassionate business that reduces everone to actuarial tables and that picks and chooses their customers.
From Beech Grove, IN, 10/07/2009
Please do not continue the myth that the part of AIG that caused the financial problems was the insurance portion, it was the banking and investing portion.
From Newton, NJ, 10/06/2009
I once got pulled over by a cop for speeding, but he let me go...his name was Mulligan. Guess I got a freebie!
10/06/2009
Golf is repleat with "hedging" from picking it out of the rought "to make sure it is yours" to the use of the "foot wedge", the infamous "gimme" putt, invoking "local rules." and most devious, "SAND- BAGGING". But like business, in the end, all is known to others
From Annapoliss, MD, 10/06/2009
Sorry..but Mulligans are ONLY allowed off the tee on the first hole..most casual golfers allow this practice, so taking a mulligan in this way cannot be regarded as cheating. Taking a mulligan at any other times is not normal practice, but even if you do it, it is hardly cheating since your golfing pals will clearly see you do it.
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