Professional Matters

The traditions of the learned professions took a beating from the deregulatory fervor of the nineteen-sixties. The very word professional comes from the oaths or codes members "professed" as part of their initiation, but after a thousand years or two the restrictions these imposed on practitioners were held to be illegal. It's true, of course, that a significant component of those codes of ethics was concerned with limiting competition among members, but those weren't the only components that were lost. In his book, Predictably Irrational, Dan Ariely cites reports widespread belief that the disappearance of professional standards of ethics has led to an increase in dishonesty and unscrupulous practice by doctors, lawyers, and accountants.

One of Ariely's principle themes is the situational dependence of moral behavior, especially honesty. Most people, he argues, are somewhat dishonest most of the time, but details matter. Sixpacks of Coke left in dorm refrigerators promptly disappear, but trays with a few dollars on them are untouched. Students taking a short test will cheat for money but not if they are reminded of the ten commandments before the test, and they will cheat a lot more if the reward is a token they have to carry twelve feet to trade for the same amount of money.

The flip side of "somewhat dishonest" is mostly honest. Very few of his subjects were maximally dishonest - they cheated enough to slightly increase their profit but far less than they could have managed. It's hard to overemphasize how dependent society is on our ability to expect honesty from the people we deal with, and societal norms play a key role in telling people when they are expected to be honest (don't take the few dollars one of your dorm mates bizarrly left in the fridge, but help yourself to one of her cokes.) It's not entirely coincidence that the most honest countries, like Finland, have economies that function far better than those of the least honest countries, e.g., Haiti.

The US is still considered fairly honest, but its reputation has taken a big hit in recent years. Ariely reminds us that a reputation is something that it's easy to lose, but hard to get back. We have paid a price for the loss of scruple in the various professions, and we pay an even bigger price when we tolerate dishonesty in our public officials. Ariely's book has lots of details, examples, and similar insights into our public and private behavior.