Proud to Be Dishonest: Emotional Consequences of Altruistic Versus Egoistic Dishonesty

Shaked Shuster, Tal Eyal, Shahar Ayal, Simone Moran

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

We explore and demonstrate the anticipated and actual emotions that are experienced by individuals who engage in dishonest behaviors that benefit others (altruistic dishonesty) versus the self (egoistic dishonesty), and primarily focus on the positive emotion of pride. Across three preregistered experiments (one scenario experiment and two incentivized behavioral ones), we found that engaging in altruistic dishonesty was not only more prevalent than egoistic dishonesty but also evoked more pride and less guilt and shame. Interestingly, the increase in pride and decrease in guilt and shame when cheating solely for the benefit of others were attenuated when participants cheated for the benefit of both others and themselves. These findings shed further light on the emotional processes involved in dishonesty and highlight the understudied role of pride. The positive association between engaging in altruistic dishonesty and pride may explain the relatively high rates of altruistic dishonesty observed in the current and previous studies, as it suggests that having an altruistic justification may not only enable cheaters to maintain a clear conscience but also even boost how they feel about themselves.

Original languageEnglish
Article numbere2386
JournalJournal of Behavioral Decision Making
Volume37
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Jul 2024

Keywords

  • altruistic dishonesty
  • egoistic dishonesty
  • emotions
  • moral judgment
  • pride

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Decision Sciences
  • Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous)
  • Applied Psychology
  • Sociology and Political Science
  • Strategy and Management

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