Dirty deeds, deconstructed
Whether it’s an investment adviser bilking clients, an athlete taking performance-enhancing drugs, or a small-business owner underreporting his taxes, scofflaws seem to find ways to beat the system in virtually every arena. Conventional wisdom dating as far back as Plato has held that people typically feel guilt, shame, or anxiety after acting unethically, and that those negative emotions effectively deter most future bouts of bad behavior. But a new finding about cheaters published this month in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology upends that belief. Rather than experiencing negative feelings, the research says, cheaters not only don’t feel as bad after cheating as previously thought, they report a significant boost in self-satisfaction after breaking the rules, versus non-cheaters. It’s a reaction they call the “cheater’s high.” “It’s not about the fact that you didn’t get caught for cheating; it’s this idea of feeling clever for getting around the system,” said Francesca Gino, an...