1. Do you think people see themselves as more ethical than they really are? And you?

2. The authors of one study noted that “disclosures can exacerbate [unethical behavior] by causing people to feel absolved of their duty to be objective.” Do you agree? Why or why not?

3. Do you think if we admitted it to ourselves times when we behaved unethically we would be less likely to behave unethically in the future?

Why would former New York Attorney General and then Governor Eliot Spitzer decide to use a prostitution service? Why would highly respected attorney Marc Dreier, with degrees from Harvard and Yale and a successful Park Avenue law firm, decide to impersonate people in order to swindle others? From Tiger Woods to Bernie Madoff, it’s not hard to find examples of unethical behavior. But what causes people to make unfortunate choices?

Behavioral genetics research has taught us that virtually every human characteristic has genetic origins, and that genetic differences are a central reason people differ in their behavior. Thus, some personality traits probably predispose people toward unethical behavior. One study of white-collar criminals, for example, showed they were significantly lower on conscientiousness than the general population.

On the other hand, recent research shows that all of us perform unethical behavior to some degree while subconsciously fooling ourselves about it. We may bend a rule to help a colleague, overlook information that might damage a case we want to make, or lie to avoid a negative consequence, blithely unaware that others might view this behavior as unethical.

Why do we do this? Evidence suggests that when we fail to notice a decision has an ethical component, it enables us to behave in a self-interested manner without having to feel badly about it. No wonder, then, that people tend to believe they are more ethical than they are.

Many think that transparency and accountability increase ethical behavior. Behavioral ethics research, however, shows us that often these actions increase unethical behavior, because they cause individuals to think disclosure absolves them of ethical responsibilities to be objective, or to deny to an even greater degree the ethical components of their decisions.

The first step toward behaving more ethically is, ironically, admitting to ourselves that we adhere to ethical standards less well than we admit.