 Under pressure: unveiling the instincts behind (dis)honestyBeatrice Braut and Marco Piovesan Chapter 11 in Research Handbook on Unethical Behavior, 2026, pp 170-184 from Edward Elgar Publishing Abstract: This chapter aims to explore the causes of dishonesty from a variety of fields, including economics, psychology, sociology, and neuroscience, to understand whether dishonest actions are mainly driven by instinct or by deliberate decision-making. By examining recent studies, we assess how situational factors—such as time pressure, cognitive load, reduced self-control, depletion, and physical states—affect the process of making ethical decisions. The analysis highlights how external and psychological drivers influence people's moral choices and shows how complex the decision-making environment can be. The chapter emphasizes how important it is to recognize these factors when creating strategies to promote honesty in different areas of society. This chapter contributes to a deeper understanding of the forces that drive dishonest behavior and offers valuable insights for designing interventions that encourage ethical actions in diverse social settings, ultimately improving the integrity of both individuals and organizations. Keywords: Dishonesty; Ethical decision-making; Time pressure; Cognitive load; Self-control depletion; Physical states (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:elg:eechap:22091_11 Ordering information: This item can be ordered from Access Statistics for this chapter More chapters in Chapters from Edward Elgar Publishing |
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