Essays on self-image and preferences for honesty

Abstract

The act of lying has always fascinated societies and researchers because opportunities to lie for the own benefit are prevalent in many areas of people's daily lives. In many of these situations, lies are socially undesirable and bear consequences for individuals and society as a whole. This thesis contributes to a growing literature which attempts to broaden our understanding of dishonesty and to yield meaningful insights on how to increase honesty in economic interactions. The chapters of this thesis focus on the role of self-image in the decision to tell a lie and explore the relationship between self-image and honesty to answer two main questions. How do self-image concerns explain differences in lying between different settings and what is the role of self-image concerns in decreasing dishonesty? People have an interest in holding a positive self-image and take actions which enable them to have a positive attitude towards themselves. Thus, self-image concerns also affect the decision to tell a lie or to make a truthful statement. On the one hand, this thesis addresses situations where the desire to think well about the own person increases honesty because people like to think of themselves as honest and moral decision makers. On the other hand, this thesis also considers situations where self-image concerns decrease honesty because by admitting the truth people would have to reveal information which makes them feel bad about themselves. In addition to reflecting on the role of self-image in the decision to lie, this work also focuses on how insights into the relationship of self-image and honesty can help to reduce dishonesty. In the case of self-image concerns increasing honesty, this can be done by increasing the negative feeling caused by telling a lie. Otherwise, lying can be reduced by providing an appropriate monetary payoff which counteracts the harm to the self-image caused by the truthful statement.