STREET DOGS

Dan Ariely on the link between honesty and creativity:

When we and those around us are dishonest, we start suspecting everyone, and without trust our lives become more difficult in almost every way.

Resisting temptation and instilling self-control are general human goals, and repeatedly failing to achieve them is a source of much of our misery.

“One percent of people will always be honest and never steal," the locksmith said. "Another one percent will always be dishonest and always try to pick your lock and steal your television. And the rest will be honest as long as the conditions are right — but if they are tempted enough, they’ll be dishonest too.

“Locks won’t protect you from the thieves, who can get in your house if they really want to. They will only protect you from the mostly honest people who might be tempted to try your door if it had no lock.”

The question is whether the only force that keeps us from carrying out misdeeds is the fear of being seen by others ... [but] cheating is not driven by concerns about standing out. Rather, it shows that our sense of our own morality is connected to the amount of cheating we feel comfortable with. Essentially, we cheat up to the level that allows us to retain our self-image as reasonably honest individuals.

If the key to our dishonesty is our ability to think of ourselves as honest and moral people while at the same time benefiting from cheating, creativity can help us tell better stories — stories that allow us to be even more dishonest but still think of ourselves as wonderfully honest people.

Put simply, the link between creativity and dishonesty seems related to the ability to tell ourselves stories about how we are doing the right thing, even when we are not.