Lying is a natural human trait. It's human nature to lie; we all do it! From white lies, to half-truth, to intentional scam. Although it is frowned upon, lying is an integral part of our lives. The irony is that people most often lie not to others, but to themselves. Using studies and tests, psychologist Dan Ariely and his team looked for patterns to get to the bottom of the mechanisms behind lying.
From political lies and fake news to financial fraud, plagiarism, and infidelity, dishonesty seems to be a universal part of the "post-truth" world we live in. Going far beyond scandalous headlines, cheating isn't just happening on a newsworthy scale, it's happening in small ways everywhere. It's human nature to lie, we all do it! But little fibs can snowball into large-scale problems with major implications for society.
There are liars and cheaters all around us. From little white lies to extraordinary acts of criminal deceit, this fascinating CNBC documentary examines this darker side of the human character, and our culture, through first-person accounts from five people who explain with startling candor how their lies lead to disastrous results: a Wall Street trader and a lawyer who run an insider trading scheme that lands them in prison; a disgraced NBA referee, convicted of betting illegally on games; an unhappily married woman in Florida who goes online to cheat on her husband; and a senior manager caught cooking the books at a major corporation. All of them rationalized their behavior and somehow came to believe their acts were justified.
A noted behavioral economics expert and best-selling author Dan Ariely introduces us to our tendency to be dishonest - sometimes even without knowing it. From scandalous headlines to little white lies, (Dis)Honesty - The Truth About Lies explores the complex impact dishonesty has on our lives and everyday society. Studies have shown that we don't really understand the causes and complexities of dishonesty. Research also indicates that reminding people and ourselves about our own morality makes us behave better.
Interweaving groundbreaking experiments with personal stories from individuals affected by the unraveling of their lies, Ariely and a team of scientists uncover our propensity to be dishonest. What's revealed is a fascinating look at the forces behind our collective behavior and the many truths behind lies. Along with a team of researchers, he reveals why so many of us lie in big ways or small, how we can still feel we're essentially honest despite our duplicity, and what we can do to stem an epidemic of cheating that costs us billions in fraud and even more in the erosion of public trust.
(DIS)HONESTY – THE TRUTH ABOUT LIES explore and reveal the surprising truths about why we all lie and the complex impact such behavior has on everyday society; from the man on the street to Wall Street, to M.I.T., to Ashley Madison and the NBA. What distinguishes harmless lies and disastrous ones and is there anything we can do about it?

Directed and Produced by Yael Melamede ; A Bond/360, CNBC and the (Dis)Honesty Project presentation of a Salty Features and Fourth & Twenty8Films Production