Joseph Grenny asks: If lying is the natural order of things, how can people behave unnaturally and tell the truth?

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A few years ago, my colleagues and I did an experiment to test what induces people to lie or tell the truth. Click here (registration required) to see the full experiment.

One of our subjects was 15-year-old Jake, a high school basketball star. We invited Jake to toss beanbags through holes of various sizes in a plywood target. He scored six out of a possible 15 points (not too good for a basketball phenom). As Jake approached our table to report his score, we wondered would he embrace his shame and tell the truth? Or would he lie to get the extra $1 per point we promised him?

We all lie. And if you dont believe that, youre probably lying to yourself. Studies have shown that lying is actually the natural order of things. From the time we are small, we learn there are powerful incentives to modify how we appear and to control the information we share with others.

So, given the importance of trust to healthy relationships, families and communities, how can we help people do the unnatural? How can we, in spite of all the immediate incentives to do the opposite, influence people to tell the truth?

Turns out, simply changing the way we communicate can be a powerful way to influence greater honesty.

Psychologist Bella DePaulo from UC Santa Barbara estimates that the average person tells three lies every 10 minutes. We lie about how we feel. We strategically edit our opinions to fit the group were chatting with. We select which parts of ourselves to reveal or suppress in order to create particular impressions. We overstate (or, if were trying to avoid an assignment, understate) our competence. We frequently feign powerlessness in order to exit conversations Sorry, Ive got to go! (A. Are you really sorry? And B. What is forcing you to go? Someone holding your cat hostage, perhaps?)

Our proclivity to lie begins early. Once we did an experiment in which we randomly assigned 3-year-olds to drink either a small cup of sweet, delicious orange juice or a similar cup tainted with salt. The salt was so strong that the tykes puckered involuntarily. Immediately after they drunk the juice, we asked the child to look into the camera and say, as convincingly as they could, Yum! This is great juice! You should try some. We videotaped the performances and then showed them to adults asking them to guess which tots were fibbing. Few could spot the liars. At age 3, the kids had learned the basics of lying. They knew enough to look sincerely into the camera, smile and in other ways fake emotion they didnt really feel.

Now back to the beanbag toss. In the first round of our experiment, we asked teenagers to report their own scores (which we verified using a hidden camera), and we paid them $1 for each point. Eighty percent of the subjects lied. Some of them lied by more than 200 percent. And ironically, many of these kids had just finished a Bible study class.

Link:
Insights from the Behavioral Science Guy: Here's the most powerful way to improve the moral character of our world

Joseph Grenny asks: If lying is the natural order of things, how can people behave unnaturally and tell the truth?

Shutterstock

A few years ago, my colleagues and I did an experiment to test what induces people to lie or tell the truth. Click here (registration required) to see the full experiment.

One of our subjects was 15-year-old Jake, a high school basketball star. We invited Jake to toss beanbags through holes of various sizes in a plywood target. He scored six out of a possible 15 points (not too good for a basketball phenom). As Jake approached our table to report his score, we wondered would he embrace his shame and tell the truth? Or would he lie to get the extra $1 per point we promised him?

We all lie. And if you dont believe that, youre probably lying to yourself. Studies have shown that lying is actually the natural order of things. From the time we are small, we learn there are powerful incentives to modify how we appear and to control the information we share with others.

So, given the importance of trust to healthy relationships, families and communities, how can we help people do the unnatural? How can we, in spite of all the immediate incentives to do the opposite, influence people to tell the truth?

Turns out, simply changing the way we communicate can be a powerful way to influence greater honesty.

Psychologist Bella DePaulo from UC Santa Barbara estimates that the average person tells three lies every 10 minutes. We lie about how we feel. We strategically edit our opinions to fit the group were chatting with. We select which parts of ourselves to reveal or suppress in order to create particular impressions. We overstate (or, if were trying to avoid an assignment, understate) our competence. We frequently feign powerlessness in order to exit conversations Sorry, Ive got to go! (A. Are you really sorry? And B. What is forcing you to go? Someone holding your cat hostage, perhaps?)

Our proclivity to lie begins early. Once we did an experiment in which we randomly assigned 3-year-olds to drink either a small cup of sweet, delicious orange juice or a similar cup tainted with salt. The salt was so strong that the tykes puckered involuntarily. Immediately after they drunk the juice, we asked the child to look into the camera and say, as convincingly as they could, Yum! This is great juice! You should try some. We videotaped the performances and then showed them to adults asking them to guess which tots were fibbing. Few could spot the liars. At age 3, the kids had learned the basics of lying. They knew enough to look sincerely into the camera, smile and in other ways fake emotion they didnt really feel.

Now back to the beanbag toss. In the first round of our experiment, we asked teenagers to report their own scores (which we verified using a hidden camera), and we paid them $1 for each point. Eighty percent of the subjects lied. Some of them lied by more than 200 percent. And ironically, many of these kids had just finished a Bible study class.

Read more:
Insights from the Behavioral Science Guy: Lying is the natural order of things

IBM Corporation logo. (PRNewsFoto/IBM Corporation)

NEW YORK, Aug. 4, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced new cloud-based solutions and a Talent and Change consulting practice to enable organizations to use analytics and workforce science to identify top talent, deepen employee engagement and manage transformational change to provide differentiated client experiences.

The new offerings are delivered through IBM's Smarter Workforce initiative and draw upon the company's 25 years of workforce science expertise, a discipline that helps clients apply proven behavioral science, statistical analysis and psychological principles to improve employee engagement and organizational performance. In tandem with the new Talent and Change practice, which is backed by 1,600 change management experts, the offerings are also supported by more than 100 behavioral scientists dedicated to helping clients use social, analytics and digital experience technologies to identify top performers, evaluate workforce readiness, and guard against future talent attrition.

The announcement comes at a time when workforce engagement and transformation are top priorities for Chief HR Officers (CHROs) and C-suite leaders. According to the recent IBM global C-suite study, the pace and magnitude of change are disrupting every aspect of business1. In fact, two out of five CEOs expect their next competitive threat to come from organizations outside their industries, requiring them to completely rethink their workforce design and processes. A major challenge is the ability to attract and retain top talent while making sure the existing workforce is fully engaged to deliver exceptional customer experiences.

Another critical aspect is the ability of organizations to manage the size, scope and pace of workforce transformation projects to meet these shifting market demands. A new study released today by the IBM Institute of Business Value found that 87 percent of nearly 1,400 business leaders did not feel enough focus is placed on managing change2. In fact, just 20 percent felt they have been successful in managing change throughout the organization, and only 40 percent felt they have the right skills in place to manage change in the future. The study also found that organizations need to build an infrastructure capable of leading change initiatives while embracing emerging technologies.

IBM's new dedicated Talent and Change consulting practice helps clients prepare for the transformational change required to build a smarter, more connected workforce. The practice gives clients access to organizational change management methods, tools and expertise gained from thousands of client engagements and IBM's own transformation initiatives. It addresses four key areas Organizational Change, Talent Analytics, Employee Experience and HR Cloud with an overall focus on helping clients use cloud to deploy, manage and access their HR solutions and assets to drive business results.

The new practice will help clients accelerate the adoption of IBM's Smarter Workforce offerings, and embrace new technologies such as IBM SPSS predictive analytics to create a competitive advantage. As part of today's launch, IBM is delivering three new cloud-based solutions to give clients deeper insight into the talent and transformational change required to build the next generation workforce:

"Most successful organizations already view people as their most important differentiator in the market, yet many still struggle to unlock the true potential of their workforce," said Debbie Landers, General Manager, Smarter Workforce and Kenexa, IBM. "The new offerings give clients a more holistic, data-driven approach that uses workforce science to predict the best fit for an individual or team across a number of personal and organizational traits. They are designed to complement the expertise of business leaders and HR professionals, while giving them the tools and insights needed to drive lasting change across the organization."

The Military Spouse Corporate Career Network (MSCCN) is using IBM's Smarter Workforce solutions to help returning veterans and their spouses find meaningful employment. To date, MSCCN has used the technology to find employment for more than 20,000 military spouses and 8,000 transitioning active military and veterans.

"Our work is critical to the long-term well-being and meaningful employment of thousands of veterans, active military and their spouses. As these fine men and women return from war, the majority do not have a job and the transition is not always an easy one," said Stacy Bayton, Chief Operating Officer, CASY-MSCCN. "With the volume of individuals we actively serve at one time, the IBM Smarter Workforce solution is unique in its ability to manage caseloads, track metrics and outcomes, and report findings to ensure service members and their families are getting what they need."

More here:
IBM Delivers Analytics and Workforce Science to Help Clients Improve Organizational Performance