Article
Perspectives on Psychological Science

Three Principles to REVISE People's Unethical Behavior

By: Shahar Ayal, Francesca Gino, Rachel Barkan and Dan Ariely

Format:Print

Abstract

Dishonesty and unethical behavior are widespread in the public and private sectors and cause immense annual losses. For instance, estimates of U.S. annual losses indicate $1 trillion paid in bribes, $270 billion lost due to unreported income, as well as $42 billion lost in retail due to shoplifting and employee theft. In this article we draw on insights from the growing fields of moral psychology and behavioral ethics to present a 3-principle framework we call REVISE. This framework classifies forces that affect dishonesty into three main categories and then redirects those forces to encourage moral behavior. The first principle, Reminding, emphasizes the effectiveness of subtle cues that increase the salience of morality and decrease people's ability to justify dishonesty. The second principle, Visibility, aims to restrict anonymity, prompt peer monitoring, and elicit responsible norms. The third principle, Self-Engagement, increases motivation to maintain a positive self-perception as a moral person and helps bridge the gap between people's moral values and their actual behavior. Combined, the REVISE framework guides the design of policy interventions to defeat dishonesty.

Keywords

Behavior; Ethics; Policy

Citation

Ayal, Shahar, Francesca Gino, Rachel Barkan, and Dan Ariely. "Three Principles to REVISE People's Unethical Behavior." Perspectives on Psychological Science 10, no. 6 (November 2015): 738–741.