| The information in this column is intended for | | | | study, some very interesting results were obtained. |
| informational purposes only, and does not constitute | | | | When compared to the control group of volunteers, |
| medical advice or recommendations by the author. | | | | the brain function of the participants who refrained |
| Please consult with your physician before making any | | | | from trying to deceive the investigators showed no |
| lifestyle or medication changes, or if you have any | | | | evidence of activation of the higher cognitive centers |
| other concerns regarding your health. | | | | of the brain that are known to play a role in |
| ___ | | | | judgment and moral decision-making. On the other |
| The related moral issues of honesty and dishonesty | | | | hand, the brain function of the volunteers who |
| have been debated for thousands of years by | | | | behaved dishonestly revealed a completely different |
| philosophers and theologians, with an abundance of | | | | pattern of activity in the brain's "judgment" centers, |
| resulting theories about how people ultimately decide | | | | in the prefrontal cortex, when compared to the |
| to confront moral quandaries in their lives. While | | | | control group of volunteers. |
| virtually all of us will resort to at least modest acts of | | | | Among the research participants who displayed |
| dishonesty from time-to-time, some of us, clearly, | | | | evidence of dishonesty, the prefrontal cortex's |
| are more prone than others to engaging in deceptive | | | | judgment and control centers were activated when |
| and dishonest behaviors on a more frequent basis. | | | | this group engaged in deception related to their coin |
| While some people, doubtless, engage in repeated | | | | flip predictions. Moreover, the degree of increased |
| acts of immoral, dishonest, or criminal behavior due to | | | | metabolic activity in these decision-making areas of |
| underlying mental illness or personality disorders, most | | | | the brain was proportional to the number of times |
| of us routinely decline opportunities to behave | | | | that each participant engaged in deceptive behavior. |
| dishonestly in our daily lives. However, some among | | | | A particularly fascinating result of this clinical study |
| us, including those without recognizable mental health | | | | was that even when the "dishonest group" of |
| problems, are somewhat more "morally flexible." While | | | | volunteers momentarily refrained from engaging in |
| the factors that help to determine the moral choices | | | | acts of dishonesty, these same judgment and moral |
| that we make as individuals are decidedly complex | | | | authority centers in the prefrontal cortex of the brain |
| and nuanced, neuroscientists and behavioral experts | | | | were still activated. |
| are using new functional imaging tools to try and | | | | While the findings of this study cannot answer any |
| better understand which areas of the brain are | | | | of the philosophical, moral, and spiritual questions |
| activated when we engage in thought processes | | | | regarding why some people choose dishonesty over |
| related to moral decision-making. | | | | honesty, the results of this intriguing study provide |
| Functional MRI, a relatively new and powerful imaging | | | | important insights into how the moral decision-making |
| technique, combines exquisitely detailed images of | | | | and judgment centers of the brain may behave |
| the brain with information regarding increased blood | | | | differently in people who routinely choose to behave |
| flow to specific areas of the brain. This melding of | | | | dishonestly (and, particularly when some form of gain |
| anatomic and metabolic information about the brain | | | | is potentially available) when compared to those who |
| allows scientists to identify discrete areas of the | | | | regularly resist such temptations. |
| brain that are activated while patients or research | | | | The authors of this study point out two of the |
| subjects are participating in specific behavioral tasks | | | | prevailing theories in cognitive psychology regarding |
| or thought processes. | | | | how humans approach temptation, and regarding our |
| A new clinical research study from Harvard | | | | readiness to either refrain from or engage in |
| University, just published in the Proceedings of the | | | | dishonest behaviors in hopes of gaining something |
| National Academy of Sciences, provides a fascinating | | | | valuable in return. According to the so-called "Grace |
| new look at how the human brain approaches moral | | | | Hypothesis," honest behavior results because honest |
| dilemmas during both "honest" and "dishonest" | | | | people do not perceive any temptation to behave |
| behaviors. In this study, volunteers were confronted | | | | dishonestly. A competing theory, the "Will |
| with opportunities for modest financial gain, which | | | | Hypothesis," states that honest behavior results from |
| could be maximized through dishonest behavior. | | | | the active, intentional resistance of perceived |
| In this study, participants were asked to predict the | | | | temptation to behave dishonestly. |
| outcome of random, repeated coin flips simulated on | | | | Thus, the findings of this clinical study would appear |
| a computer. These research subjects were then | | | | to better support the "Grace Hypothesis" for the |
| compensated according to the number of their | | | | more honest volunteers, in that the judgment and |
| correct predictions (i.e., "heads" or "tails"), based upon | | | | moral decision-making centers in the brains of the |
| self-reporting of the accuracy of their predictions. A | | | | volunteers who behaved honestly were not |
| "control group" of participants underwent functional | | | | activated when these participants were offered an |
| MRI scans too, but they were required to provide all | | | | opportunity to increase their compensation by being |
| of their predictions (i.e., their guesses) of the | | | | dishonest. On the other hand, these same "executive |
| outcome of the simulated coin flips in advance, thus | | | | function" centers in the prefrontal cortex of the |
| removing any incentive to behave dishonestly. The | | | | participants who were dishonest lit up whether these |
| remaining research volunteers were allowed to | | | | people were behaving honestly or dishonestly, and |
| self-report their predictions after they had completed | | | | could therefore suggest that the "Will Hypothesis" |
| the coin flip exercise, which offered them an obvious | | | | was more applicable to people who are intrinsically |
| opportunity for cheating. It should also be noted that | | | | more predisposed to behave dishonestly when they |
| the maximum available compensation offered was | | | | perceive some potential gain (however small) from |
| only $75. | | | | doing so. |
| Functional MRI scans of the brain were performed on | | | | While this study does not resolve the ages-old |
| all of these research volunteers as they completed | | | | debate regarding what keeps "honest people honest" |
| these tasks. Not surprisingly, more than a few of | | | | and "dishonest people dishonest," it does offer a |
| these research volunteers reported predictions that | | | | fascinating window into the divergent brain function |
| far exceeded the statistical possibility of guessing | | | | of people who appear to occupy either category. It |
| which side of the simulated coin would appear with | | | | remains to be discovered, however, why people who |
| each random coin flip, indicating widespread | | | | are prone to behaving dishonestly do so in the first |
| dishonesty among these participants. | | | | place, when the prevailing norm is virtually every |
| When the results of the functional MRI scans were | | | | culture and society throughout the world strongly |
| compared among the different groups within this | | | | favors honesty over dishonesty. |