Member-only story
A Measure of Honesty: More Than Just Truth and Lies
A recent medium article I wrote about self-honesty made me think about the complexity of being truthful and the science behind the virtue we call honesty. As I mentioned in the article, as children we think of honesty as either being truthful or lying; however, as we grow into adults, we realize not only the complexity of the concept but also its far-reaching consequences in all spheres of life.
Dictionary Definition: hon.es.ty (noun)
In one form or another, everyone I have come across has heavily emphasized honesty in both the personal and professional arena; however, we don’t always know what it means to be honest, how honest we should be, and what about being overly honest. While honesty is considered an important virtue, there is very little historical research on the subject. A project was launched just to address this specific gap.
In 2020, The Honesty Project was initiated under the leadership of researchers at Wake Forest University and Carnegie Mellon University. Funding was awarded to competition-winning researchers from various organizations and universities across the world to explore the science and philosophy of honesty (“Honesty Project at Wake Forest University and Carnegie Mellon University,” 2023). The research teams under the projects aims to answer the big 5 questions as outlined by one of research leads, Dr. Christian B. Miller (Miller et. al., 2021):
1. “What is the definition and value of honesty? What are the behavioral and motivational requirements for being honest or exceptionally so?” (Miller et. al., 2021)
2. “To what extent are people honest? How does this vary by culture?” (Miller et. al., 2021)
3. “What contextual and internal factors encourage honesty and shape its development in individuals, groups, organizations, and institutions?” (Miller et. al., 2021)
4. “What are the consequences of honesty and dishonesty for relationships, groups, organizations, and institutions?” (Miller et. al., 2021)
