Pretty
much everyone lies and cheats sometimes—but pretty much identifies
themselves as a liar or a cheater. We consider our indiscretions the
exception, not the rule, and desist from calling ourselves crooks even
if that’s exactly what we are.
Now, a new study in PNAS attempts to explain this nearly universal delusion with what researchers are calling “unethical amnesia”—the theory that we remember our good deeds better than our ethical lapses, allowing us to continue acting unethically without much remorse.