Short horizons and tempting situations: Lack of continuity to our future selves leads to unethical decision making and behavior

• Published in: Organizational behavior and human decision processes 2012-03, Vol.117 (2), p.298-310
• Main Authors: Hershfield, Hal E., Cohen, Taya R., Thompson, Leigh
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Biological and medical sciences; Business ethics; Causality; Cognition. Intelligence; Deceit; Decision making; Decision making. Choice; Ethical decision making; Ethics; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Future self-continuity; Inappropriateness; Individual differences; Intertemporal choice; Judgement; Judgments; Negotiation; Organizational behavior; Personality traits; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Self-concept; Selfcontrol; Studies; Unethical behavior; Unethical decision making
• ISSN: 0749-5978; 1095-9920
• DOI: 10.1016/j.obhdp.2011.11.002

► We examine continuity to the future self and unethical decision making. ► We examine judgments, decisions, and actual behavior. ► Lack of continuity is linked to cheating, lying, and making false promises. People who feel continuity with their future selves are more likely to behave in ethically responsible ways as compared to people who lack continuity with their future selves. We find that individual differences in perceived similarity to one’s future self predicts tolerance of unethical business decisions (Studies 1a and 1b), and that the consideration of future consequences mediates the extent to which people regard inappropriate negotiation strategies as unethical (Study 2). We reveal that low future self-continuity predicts unethical behavior in the form of lies, false promises, and cheating (Studies 3 and 4), and that these relationships hold when controlling for general personality dimensions and trait levels of self-control (Study 4). Finally, we establish a causal relationship between future self-continuity and ethical judgments by showing that when people are prompted to focus on their future self (as opposed to the future), they express more disapproval of unethical behavior (Study 5).