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(Dis) Honesty-The Truth about Lies: Fudge Factors, Honor Codes, and Integrity

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Reflection on the Film “(Dis)Honesty - The Truth About Lies

Reflection on the Film “(Dis)Honesty - The Truth About Lies” Research by Dr. Dan Ariely has shown that we all compromise our integrity at some point. But the degree of compromise varies by individual and by the circumstances in our lives and of the situation (danariely.com). Watch Dr. Ariely’s film, “(Dis)Honesty - The Truth About Lies” and write a reflection paper responding to the prompts below. You can rent the film for $3.99 on Amazon Prime or on YouTube. If you opt for Amazon Prime, select “More purchase options” to see the $3.99 rental option. Your paper needs to be a minimum of 1200 words in a Microsoft Word document. Follow standard practices related to avoiding plagiarism including quoting and citing verbatim text and citing paraphrased ideas. • When you cite quotes or ideas from the film, put the minutes in parentheses as your citation. For example, to reference something 22 minutes into the film, put (Ariely film 22) as your citation. If a quote came one hour and six minutes into the film, put (Ariely film 1:06) as your citation. • You may find Dan Ariely’s book helpful – The (Honest) Truth About Dishonesty. It is available in the UC Davis library and may be available at your local library. If you need to cite a quote or idea from his book, put (Ariely book, p. __) as your citation. • If you use any resources other than the film or his book, provide a list of references and include the page number of any cited material. You need to email your paper to me by the date listed in your agreement or decision letter. If you have not adequately reflected on the prompts, I will give you feedback on the portions of your paper that need further development and you will receive an additional week to revise your paper. This sanction will not be complete until you have satisfactorily responded to the prompts. 1. In a paragraph, summarize the film’s main points. 2. What does Ariely mean by fudge factor? What are some of the examples of fudge factor presented in the film? How does the fudge factor come into play for you, your family, or your friends? 3. List five examples of elements that influence the fudge factor and explain each. 4. List five reasons why some students cheat on an exam or plagiarize in a paper or other assignment. For each reason, explain why you believe it does or does not justify the cheating or plagiarism. 5. In 2016-2017, 45% of public school funding in the U.S. came from local sources (on average), mostly property taxes. (Public School Revenue Sources) If the homes in one neighborhood are valued significantly lower than schools in another neighborhood, the schools will have significantly different financial resources which will affect the quality of the students’ education. Kelley, the woman who lied about her address, explained that she did so because she wanted her daughters to attend a better school. If you were Kelley, what do you think you would have done and why? Identify at least one other example of social injustice that might lead someone to violate the law and explain who needs to do what to address the injustice. 6. Explain why Ariely says, “Big cheaters make big bad mistakes and small cheaters make small mistakes and dishonest decisions. The bigger problem are the small cheaters.” 7. Explain the concept of social trust and why the film makes the case that it is important for a thriving society. 8. How can we strengthen social trust at UC Davis related to academic integrity? (150 word minimum) 9. Two Wolves – A Cherokee legend, from the website First People: American Indian Legends An old Cherokee is teaching his grandson about life. “A fight is going on inside me,” he said to the boy. “It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil – he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, selfpity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.” He continued, “The other is good - he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. The same fight is going on inside you – and inside every other person, too.” The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, “Which wolf will win?” The old Cherokee simply replied, “The one you feed.” How will you feed the good wolf in you? How can you strengthen your resistance to temptation and support your efforts to live with integrity?

Essay Sample Content Preview:

Reflection on the Film "(Dis) Honesty - The Truth about Lies"
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Yael Melamede's insightful documentary, (Dis) Honesty: The Truth About Lies, introduces the work of Dan Ariely, a behavioral economist whose work focuses on dishonesty as a disturbing part of humans. Ariely gathers evidence from his extensive experiments to expose how different people were caught in deceit and how it adversely affects them. Ariely demonstrates that there is a fundamental problem in our morals. There are hidden justifications in peoples' minds why it is not wrong to cheat to a particular extent. The film demonstrates how adhering to honor codes can ensure that individuals adhere to integrity.
The fudge factor means that individuals have two primary goals: On the one hand, people have a goal to look at themselves in a mirror and feel good about themselves. On the other hand, individuals aim at cheating and benefiting from it. In other words, there is a level of cheating people cannot surpass, but they can still benefit from cheating at a lower ranger if it does not change their impression of themselves. Individuals cheat because they cannot help themselves. Hence, they have to "fudge" the truth a bit or tell a small white lie. Individuals are torn between two extremes: They need to maintain their integrity and appear as honest people while at the same time desiring to gain as much power as they can. Consequently, humans feel it is okay to cheat, as long as it is not too much. Lying a little bit is critical in rationalizing actions. People will feel good about themselves if they lie a little bit.
An example of the fudge factor is the vending machine experiment, where people could get both candy and money. In the experiment, no one took more than four candies. The people went ahead and called their friends to come and take the free candies. In this case, people felt that taking three or four was okay since it was not a significant number (Ariely, 2015). Another example is where people think that it is socially okay to cheat. The experiment was done at Carnegie-Mellon, where every student was from the same institution. The acting student was dressed in a University of Pittsburgh sweatshirt. When the "University of Pittsburgh" student cheated, the rest of the students knew they could get away with it but did not cheat. This is because they did not think that people like them were doing it (Ariely, 2015). The fudge factor comes into play in my family, where I use the behavior of my family members to legitimize mine. For example, while growing up, my older brother would cheat our parents to get more money. Since I got someone like me cheating and getting away with it, I found it convenient to lie to my parents to get more pocket money while in school. I observed someone like me doing it, but I did not consider it too wrong to do it.
One factor that influences the fudge factor is the feeling that everyone is doing it. If we can rationalize that everyone is doing it, we convince ourselves that it is the right thing. For instance, Joe Papp engaged in doping because "everyone was complicit in it" (Ariely, 2015). Secondly, there is a feeling that it is okay to lie as long as no one is hurt. Etgar Keret, a wr...
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