THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, August 27, 1995 TAG: 9508250013
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: J4 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Medium: 59 lines
``From the idealistic days of college to the practical world of business, something happens to those in the accounting field,'' according to a report Wednesday in this newspaper's business section.
``Those in the workplace, it seems, either lose some of the ethical idealism they had as students or, to state it euphemistically, become more aware of the `legitimate discretion' managers need to conduct business effectively.''
In other words, once out in the real world of work, they tend to lack the moral courage to resist employers' pressures to distort reported earnings to make companies look good. The results can be disastrous for investors who trust the earnings reports.
The authors of the study, two University of Dayton professors, called for more training in ethics in college and on the job.
A second study, by University of Virginia Professor Bella DePaulo, is even more disheartening. Her study seems to indicate those kids still in college are hardly consumed by honesty.
DePaulo, who has been studying dishonesty and deception for more than a decade, had 77 students who live away from home keep dairies of every conversation and record the lies they told for a week.
According to their dairies, they averaged two lies a day.
They didn't have enough conversations with dads to draw conclusions from, but they lied in about half their conversations with moms, typically saying a book would cost $10 more than it actually did in order to squeeze mom for extra money.
The study, presented early this month at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association, said the students lied in 28 percent of conversations with best or regular friends, 48 percent of conversations with an acquaintance, 77 percent of conversations with a stranger, 46 percent of conversations with mom and 34 percent of conversations with lovers.
A lot of people seem to be thinking about lies lately. There's a new book titled 101 Lies Men Tell Women, by psychologist Dory Hollander. Most women won't have to read the book to know many of the lies: ``I'll call.'' ``I love you.'' ``You're the only one in my life.''
Dr. Hollander said men tend to lie to protect their freedom while women tend to lie to protect others' feelings. In other words, she concluded, women tell nicer lies than men.
Liars often feel they are getting away with something, pulling something over on somebody. But lies generally are destructive to everyone. A relationship built on lies cannot endure, because each lie is a brick in a terrible wall separating two people. Sometimes a single lie is an entire wall too high to climb over.
But generally, lying is a destructive habit to acquire, destructive of self and others. One of the finest things that can be said about anyone is, ``His (or her) word is as good as gold.''
That cannot be said of all too many of us. by CNB