Israeli-American economist flags the problem of self-flattery by global rulers

It was the late author and orator Christopher Hitchens who said something profound to say about rulers and why they often don’t lie to themselves even if they lie to the people they have control over. In an essay he wrote in 2007, Hitchens wrote that a “serious ruling” class will not lie to itself in its own statistics, an assertion that spotlights in high contrast contemporary rulers who deceive themselves into believing their own propaganda even as data reliability emerges as a major concern for academics, the common man and policymakers alike.

Here is where Dan Ariely, renowned Israeli-American behavioural economist, author and co-founder of several companies, comes in, stating that “there is a real risk that governments will congratulate themselves on things that they haven't done and figure out that they don't need to do the real thing.” The James B. Duke Professor of psychology and behavioural economics at Duke University adds, “And we all know that a lot of governments in the world have a lot of things they actually need to do and I worry that flattery could substitute.”

Ariely, who holds doctorates in cognitive psychology as well as business administration, has written several bestselling books, including Dollars and Sense; Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions; The Upside of Irrationality: The Unexpected Benefits of Defying Logic at Work and at Home; and The Honest Truth About Dishonesty: How We Lie to Everyone – Especially Ourselves.

Ariely looks at the problem primarily from the point of view of an individual who flatters himself or herself into believing something about him or her that isn’t true. “So, what happens to people who flatter themselves? First of all, I think they start believing it themselves and they are reducing criticism. Now I think that when governments do it, the people who are [in favour of] them are going to buy it and those who are against them are against them anyway.”

Ariely, who pronounces his surname as ‘oh really’, was born in New York, but emigrated to Israel aged three. An alumnus of Tel Aviv University, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Duke University, he was previously Alfred P Sloan Professor of Behavioral Economics at MIT Sloan School of Management and at the MIT Media Lab. He is married to Sumedha Gupta, an assistant professor at Duke University, with whom he has two children.

The acclaimed economist went through a painful period of prolonged hospitalisation and trauma as a teenager after he suffered third-degree burns in almost 70% of his body in an accident. Years later, he said that those years of his life inspired him to study human behaviour.

Amidst a growing perception across the world that several governments have become accustomed to inflating statistics even to themselves and not only to deceive their citizens, the 58-year-old academic avers, “There is research on human psychology that when you set a goal, you feel so proud of yourself about having set the goal that you don't feel you actually need to do the work. Like you congratulate yourself and [believe] that you don't need to do it."

He emphasises, “I worry that flattery could work in the same way.” Imagine yourself setting a goal of exercising three days in a week and eating better; you feel happy now that you’ve set the goal, but don't feel the same pressure to act on your plan because you congratulate yourself, Ariely points out, adding, “If a government does the same then they also feel they don't need to tackle the real problem.”