I recently read an article (here), in which researches discovered through a series of tests performed on children, that children respond to positive incentives for honesty at a higher rate than negative punishments for dishonesty. While the article states that the test was performed on children, I wondered whether or not the same was true of adults. From all of the examples that came into my mind, it seemed pretty clear that our society, or at the very least our school, prioritizes punishment for dishonesty rather than promoting honesty.
People who come clean after being found out are often looked down upon as merely performing “damage control”, rather than commended for their honesty. While there is some truth to those accusations, the fact that those who come clean are viewed with a similar disdain to those who try to cover their actions up makes it difficult to choose coming clean over trying to get away with it. As long as the punishment for any sort of transgression is the same whether or not the person comes clean, it seems obvious that the person will try to go unnoticed.
Consider the various authors we have spoken about in class already who lied in one way or another in order to garner a larger readership. In a way, many people want the lie, they simply don’t want to know they are being lied to. In this way, punishment against dishonesty instead of a promotion of honesty is the best method of ensuring that the various illusions we embrace in day to day life are not dismantled in any way.
James, I apologize for commenting this late. My computer must have malfunctioned and not posted this comment by the due date (April 2nd):
ReplyDeleteI really like your application of this study to Hamilton College's disciplinary system. I think that such a system would be interesting to observe, however I do not think that this system would prevent the acts from being committed originally. People would commit the 'poor' decisions and simply ask for forgiveness leaving the school with costly damage to repair.
The school could simply charge the students instead of both assigning them points and charging them if they come clean. There is definitely something to be said for coming clean, and the school should commend students honesty, but not dismiss their poor actions.