Dan Ariely says dishonesty isn’t rare — it’s routine. In this episode, he explains why we lie, how habits silently shape our lives, and how redesigning your environment beats relying on willpower. This will change how you think about bias, behavior, and why the truth is harder than it looks.
Now available on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Transcript
Dan Ariely is a professor of psychology and behavioral economics at Duke University. He has delivered multiple TED Talks, and authored several books, including Predictably Irrational, exploring the surprising ways we behave irrationally.
Here are a few highlights from our conversation:
- The three types of decisions that control our lives and how understanding our biases can help us make smarter decisions
- How our environment plays a big role in our decision making and the small changes we can make to automatically improve our outcomes
- The “behavioral driven” bathroom scale Dan has been working on to revolutionize weight loss
- Which of our irrational behaviors transfer across cultures and which ones are unique to certain parts of the world (for example, find out which country is the most honest)
- The dishonesty spectrum and why we as humans insist on flirting with the line between “honest” and “dishonest”
- 3 sneaky mental tricks Dan uses to avoid making ego-driven decisions
- “Pluralistic ignorance” and how it dangerously affects our actions and inactions (As a bonus, Dan shares the hilarious way he demonstrates this concept to his students on their first day of class)
- The rule Dan created specifically for people with spinach in their teeth
- The difference between habits, rules and rituals, and why they are critical to shaping us into who we want to be
This was a riveting discussion and one that easily could have gone for hours. If you’ve ever wondered how you’d respond in any of these eye-opening experiments, you have to listen to this interview. If you’re anything like me, you’ll learn something new about yourself, whether you want to or not.
Enjoy!
