What's My Motivation?

In several earlier articles, I discussed the importance for the Daily Improviser of “seeing things as they really are.”

However, as I was reading the book Freakonomics, by Steven Levitt & Stephen Dubner, I realized the importance of a corollary theme: “saying things as they really are.”

Levitt and Dubner describe at length one reason why people can be less than upfront with the truth – a condition called information asymmetry, a fancy way of saying “I know something you don’t know!” The condition particularly afflicts experts of all stripes – realtors, insurance agents, physicians – whom we daily entrust with our health and well-being, under the assumption that they will use their expertise to serve our best interests.

However, Levitt and Dubner cite numerous instances where such trust is misplaced – where the experts don’t act in our best interests. For example, the home sellers’ agent who settles for less than top dollar, since the effort required to get that extra $5,000 for the seller is not worth the small additional commission the agent would realize.

The point, Levitt and Dubner say, is not that the experts are bad people “but that they simply are people – and people inevitably respond to incentives.”

“Incentives,” though, doesn’t necessarily equate with “lining one’s pockets.” As Maslow would probably agree, people have many different types of interests they try to serve in addition to economic interests – being accepted by a group, maintaining a relationship, being perceived as a fair-minded person. Each of these interests can lead a person to “not say what they see.” (Think of this the next time your Significant Other asks you “How does this look?”)

Again, like Levitt and Dubner, I leave aside the question of whether this state of affairs is inherently good or bad. I would just note that their observation – “People respond to incentives” – is another factor to keep in mind when considering the barriers to seeing – and saying – things “as they are.”