Journal 3:
This journal covers chapters 5 and 6 of The Honest Truth about Dishonesty by Dan Ariely, specifically page 117 to 161. In particular, this journal asks you to pay attention to how self-image and honesty are affected by appearance and material changes to our appearance and how “helping ourselves to a better self-image” sometimes gets us to act irrationally and dishonestly but also can, sometimes, actually increase our self-confidence.
This journal asks you to pay attention to special terms Ariely uses to explain things, such as wearing fakes, “from Ermine to Armani,” self-signalling, external signaling, moral restraints loosening, honesty threshold, what the hell effect, fake it til you make it, self-puffery, not-flinching, false achievement markers, and self-deception. Please make sure that your journal, when completed, includes mention of at least three of these terms.
Directions: Read pages 117 to 161. Using “Calling All Chloes” (pages 123-126) as your base for overall understanding, write a 450-480word reflection, approximately, to answer the following:
Open your writing with a statement about honesty that makes an interesting point or raises an interesting question about honesty and truth-telling. To help you to style your writing, you should hook into an expression from Chapter 5 that you can use as a flow quote–a clever or interesting expression of Ariely’s of four to eight words–that you can blend into your own sentence or sentences for this step 1 of the journal. Of course, this opening for your journal should have some complexity to it, get your reader to think and be interested, and generally lead into and match the content of what you will discuss. (50 words, approximately)
Talk about the weird-ness (yes, use the word “weird” or “weirdness”) of Ariely trying to determine the honesty of college graduate MBA students by getting them to do a certain amount of math puzzles in a certain amount of time while they knowingly or unknowingly wear fake sunglasses! From what you know of Ariely by now, how does it kind of make sense that he would think up a project like this, involving the wearing of fake sunglasses? Tell how this experiment does seem to prove a new point about what he calls “self-signaling” as a factor that affects truth-telling and self-image? Imagine, what else–if he didn’t have the fake sunglasses to use in the experiments–could he have substituted as a something people could wear and their honesty might change by it? (Approximately 130 words)
Choose two other example-stories from anywhere within the pages from 117 to 161 which you observe in fact connect to, support, and enhance the lesson in “Calling All Chloes” (pages 123-126) about the fake sunglasses. In other words, what are two other examples or experiments anywhere in those pages that relate to what is going on in “Calling All Chloes”? Just name the two example-stories for this step. (Just write, “One example-story within pages 117 to 161 that I believe relates to “Calling All Chloes” is the one in which ___ [tell what happens briefly]. A second example-story within pages 117 to 161 that I believe realtes to “Calling All Chloes” is the one in which ___ [tell what happens briefly].” Approximately 70 words.
Thinking of all three example-stories (including “Calling All Chloes”–see step 3), what larger human-oriented point is Ariely making specifically about how oddly or ironically people will “help ourselves to a better self-image,” whether it’s to gain more self-confidence (think of the blue crab at the beginning of chapter 6) or to gain a “higher MENSA score” (page 146) or earn an award we don’t deserve, or to see ourselves as better than we really are? What point is Ariely making? (Hint: Ariely seems to have a comical view of human nature in this respect, yes? Would you agree?) But be sure to use evidence from the comparison stories you chose and tell me what page numbers your comparison stories come from. (Approximately 100 words)
As you did for Journal 2, make a connection to social media: Think of a celebrity or influencer whose habit of showing off a good appearance has become part of their brand or their art, and that doing so has likely shaped or changed the messages they tell themselves about themselves (self-signalling). How does this celebrity kind of fit themselves into Ariely’s theory about “helping ourselves to a better self-image”? Include a screen shot of the celebrity-influencer with visual evidence in that frame and include a few sentences of direct reference (details, exact phrases, quotes—be specific) FROM the post you have chosen. (For example, you could say, “Viewing this post of the celebrity, please notice in it —-(what details?)”) Include a link to the post as well as well as a correct Works Cited reference for the post. (Approximately 120 words)
See this attachment for how to correctly cite an Instagram post:
April2024HowToCiteInstagramPost-Photo(2).pdf
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Checklist for this journal assignment: An “Add Comment” Mini-Reflection
To make sure this journal is complete, when you submit this assignment, please copy this checklist into the “Add Comments” box that appears on the Submission Page for this assignment:
Yes, I paid attention to special terms Ariely uses to explain things, such as self-signalling.
Yes, I used a “flow quote” from Ariely to blend into my own sentence for some stylistic flair in the introduction.
Yes, I covered step 2 well, using the word “weird” and directly answering the question asked in step 2.
Yes, I dealt with two other example-stories, alongside “Calling All Chloes” for step 3.
Yes, I did the social media mini-research of step 4, including referring to an actual post, including a screen-shot of the post, including the link, and doing a correct Works Cited entry for the post.
