Chapter 12 Ariely

In chapter 12 of Ariely's, Predictability Irrational, he discusses our morals when it comes to stealing. He brings up the idea of how non monetary currencies can affect our perceptions of stealing and our morals. He tests' this idea through an experiment. He uses two separate fridges in a college dorm, in one fridge there was a 6 pack of coke and in the other fridge there was 6 dollar bills. The results was that the soda was all gone and the money was all there. This shows that individuals rather steal/cheat items than cash, maybe it's perceived as less severe to steal a replaceable soda than someones money that they worked for. Another idea that Ariely tested through an experinment is online transactions. His results were that people are also less likely to steal or cheat in person than they do online. This is something very common, when a teacher assigns an online homework assignment the student is a lot more likely to cheat that a hard copy assignment. Ariely concludes by saying people need a certain amount of distance from cash to avoid feeling guilty, so being online or in the form of other items makes it easier for people to steal/cheat.

According to Ariely, cheating is easier when it is one step removed from cash because it make individuals feel less guilty, cash makes us consider our actions more, just like how signing a wavier can make you consider you actions not to cheat. He uses a few examples to explain this, one is it would be easier to steal a pencil but to steal 10 cents to buy the pencil would be more difficult and the person would feel morally wrong. I personally can agree with the example above I have stolen tons of pencils over the course of my years from peers, tables, etc. and I've had tons of pencils stolen from me, it's not a big item that I would get upset over if I don't have. But if I stole cash from someone I would feel so guilty because its someone else's hard earned money and if stole what they worked hours for in an instant I would feel so ashamed. It makes sense that identity theft is on the rise in America is because it is happening online over the internet, people are more likely to steal someones credit card information, or personal files like that than try to physically rob a person and take their files and credit cards. By not seeing the person and having the computer as a sort of mediator it is allows the person to feel less morally wrong. Ariely also provides some example of how companies legitimately steal from their customers. One example is the banks double charging individuals so when they are in debt get charged more. It doesn't look like stealing but it is, people getting charged for purchases they didn't buy.