How Honest Are You?

By Jocelyn Neo

You might’ve heard the axiom that ‘honesty is the best policy’, and that it’s important to be truthful in our daily lives.

So, what would you do if you found a wallet on the street? Would you keep it, or would you return it to its rightful owner?

In July 2016, a Japanese expatriate was fortunate enough to recover a wallet that she had accidentally left at a market. A stall owner saw it, put it aside for her, and later returned it to the woman.

Her previous experiences in Singapore had not been that positive. However, this last incident helped her change her opinion of Singaporeans.

According to the ‘Lost Wallet’ social experiment conducted by Reader’s Digest, people in certain countries are apt to more honest than people in other countries.

Reporters from the magazine were asked to put a person’s name, cell-phone number, family photo, coupons, business cards, and the equivalent of $50 inside 192 wallets.

The reporters then ‘dropped’ 12 wallets in each of 16 selected cities, leaving them in parks, near shopping malls, and on sidewalks. From a short distance away, they observed people’s reactions.

Finnish capital, Helsinki City, emerged as the most honest city out of these 16 cities, with 11 out of 12 ‘lost’ wallets being returned to their respective ‘owners’.

Only one out of 12 wallets was returned in Lisbon, Portugal. However, the wallet was returned by a couple travelling from the Netherlands.

Mumbai, India was ranked the second most honest city, with nine wallets being returned.

“My conscience wouldn’t let me do anything wrong. A wallet is a big thing with many important documents [in it],” said Rahul Rai, a video editor.

Seven wallets were returned in Moscow. “I am convinced that people should help one another, and if I can make someone a little happier, I will,” said a Moscow resident who turned in a wallet.

Overall, 53 percent of the 192 wallets were kept by the people who picked them up, while 90 (47 percent) of the wallets were returned.

According to an experiment conducted by the University of East Anglia in the UK, 1,500 people from 15 countries took part in an online survey, which consisted of both a coin flip and music quiz.

In the coin-flip quiz, 70 percent of the participants in China were found to have cheated, thus it was rated the least honest country out of these 15 countries.

However, in the UK only 3.4 percent of the participants had cheated, placing it as the most honest country in the experiment, followed by South Africa.

In the music quiz, Japan topped the honesty chart, with the UK following behind.

Why Should We Be Honest?

According to LiveScience, a trusted source for highly accessible science, health and technology news, people lie in order to protect their image, self-esteem or to gain material benefits.

The ‘lying expert’, Robert Feldman, said that on average, a person lies about 11 times a day.

In addition, many people lie without realising it, such as providing incomplete information, exaggerating on their resume, or spreading hearsay behind people’s backs.

Since lying is such a common thing, why should we value honesty?

Imagine if you had lost your wallet and no one had returned it, or your doctor didn’t disclose a life-threatening medical condition that he discovered from your X-ray. How would you feel?

In both ancient and modern times, honesty and truthfulness have always been held in high regard.

A survey conducted in 2012 on 503 people in Singapore, showed that honesty was valued the most out of a list of 20 virtues, includes kindness, gratitude and empathy.

The ancient Chinese believed that one’s material possessions or assets are the direct result of one’s good fortune, and that one’s good fortune is directly linked to one’s character. If a man covets something that is not rightfully his, he will suffer the consequences, according to heavenly laws.

As the old Chinese saying goes ‘good will be rewarded, and evil will meet with retribution’ or as people nowadays say, ‘what goes around, comes around’. We should really keep this in mind when going about our daily lives.

Usually, if a person is dishonest, he will attract other dishonest people into his life. Some of these people might deceive or lie to him, in the same manner that he had deceived and lied to others.

Lies, no matter how hidden, always have a way of surfacing. Everyone intrinsically knows this, and that’s why so many people live in fear, that is, of being exposed.

However, isn’t it better to be truthful with yourself and others, so that you can live an upright existence?

The ancient book, Zhouyi stated, “When we speak, we need to be sincere and truthful,” meaning: what we say should be based on facts, correspond to our actions and what we’re thinking in our hearts.

Moreover, if you’re dishonest, you could wind up destroying your reputation and the trust that people have put in you, which is very hard to regain.

In the workplace, employers look for honest and trustworthy people who can get the job done while maintaining a high degree of integrity.

Telling the Truth Could Improve Your Health

A research study conducted by the American Psychological Association, found that telling the truth could improve one’s health.

The 10-week study titled ‘Science of Honesty’ involved 110 participants, half of whom were instructed not to lie, regardless of how small or large the lies were.

Results showed that the physical and mental health of the group that was truthful had markedly improved. Not only had they experienced fewer colds and headaches, but their personal relationships had also improved.

Why does telling the truth improve one’s health? Perhaps it’s due to the overall stress caused by lying.

A study led by Joshua D. Greene, assistant professor of psychology at the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University, observed that when a person lies, additional brain activity is generated.

However, no additional neural activity was detected in individual’s who had told the truth.

These findings were observed by using functional magnetic resonance imaging.