Maurice Schweitzer - Wharton Professor: Why We Lie, How Context Shapes Us & When Goals Go Wrong - #136

Maurice Schweitzer is a Wharton professor whose research explores trust, deception, negotiation, decision-making and the way we manage how other people see us. In this conversation, we start with a deceptively simple question: what makes you, you? From there we get into how culture and travel shape identity, whether AI can deceive us, why humans lie, and the strange line between dishonesty and kindness.

We also explore the downside of goal setting, why ambitious targets can sometimes encourage unethical behaviour, and how easy it is to lose sight of the bigger goal while chasing the one directly in front of us. Maurice also talks about impression management, authenticity, prosocial lies, the cost of bad feedback, and his latest work on how the metaphors we use can shape the way we understand the world.

If this one's got you thinking about goals, I built something for exactly that.

The Chapter System: https://bit.ly/4gw6m6x

Chapters:

00:00 What makes you, you?

02:51 How travel and culture change who we are

06:37 AI, context and what makes us human

11:30 Can AI be deceptive?

15:44 Why do humans lie?

20:22 British small talk and socially acceptable deception

22:50 Prosocial lies: when kindness and honesty collide

25:33 The hidden cost of polite dishonesty

30:58 Surprise parties, proposals and “good” deception

35:25 Can goals make us unethical?

41:26 Goal hierarchy, values and knowing when to stop

43:46 Work, travel and competing priorities

46:07 Impression management and authenticity

49:33 How metaphors shape the way we think

🎙️ MY STUFF

The Chapter System (the PDF):

https://bit.ly/4gw6m6x

All my other stuff: https://awakenoutofcontext.com

Maurice Schweitzer:

Wharton: https://oid.wharton.upenn.edu/profile/schweitz/

X: https://twitter.com/me_schweitzer

Friend & Foe: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/205841/friend-and-foe-by-adam-galinsky-and-maurice-schweitzer/