Source: Bet On It
by Bryan Caplan
“I’ve written dozens of posts about Social Desirability Bias. Social Desirability Bias is the key psychological building block of my new book. When asked to succinctly explain Social Desirability Bias, my standard slogan is: ‘When the truth is ugly, people lie.’ This would be unexciting, however, unless some truths were, in fact, ugly. Which they totally are. For example: * Some children are stupid. * Some workers are lazy. * Some decorated veterans are racist. * Most human beings are unwilling to die for their countries. * God is rarely the most important thing in anyone’s life. Examples of ugly truths are so easy to mass produce that it’s easy to conclude that truth and ugliness go hand in hand. But it’s equally easy to mass produce pretty truths.” (03/05/26)