HOW HONEST ARE WE


RobHello there! And today we've got six minutes to talk about honesty and how honest people are – particularly when it comes to spending money. So Neil – what's an 'honesty box'?
NeilWell, it's where you pay for something by putting money in a box – but it's up to you to put in the right amount. A small business might use this method to take money for things like parking your car or buying a newspaper because it means you don't need a sales assistant.
RobBut that means people could take a newspaper or park their car without paying anything! An honesty box relies on people being honest. The adjective honest means truthful and not trying to cheat people.
NeilAnd the noun is honesty – the quality of being truthful. Have you ever cheated an honesty box, Rob?
RobAbsolutely not! I've never have!
NeilHonestly?
RobHonestly! And to cheat, by the way, means to trick or deceive someone to get something you want. Honesty is the best policy, as they say… 
NeilWhich of course leads us on to our quiz. 

DanThe 6 minute English quiz! Who said ‘honesty is the best policy’? Was it…
a) Donald Trump
b) Benjamin Franklin or
c) Richard Nixon?
RobHonestly, Neil! Everyone will know the answer to that.
NeilBut do you know the answer to that, Rob?
RobWell, I'll have an honest guess. I think it's b) Benjamin Franklin.
NeilWell, you might be right, but you might not – we'll find out at the end. I did like your use of 'honestly' there, Rob. We can use the adverb 'honestly' at the beginning of a sentence to show that we're feeling irritated – for example when your co-presenter picks a quiz question that's too easy!
RobOK, OK, let's move on now and hear from Philip Graves, a psychologist, and author of the book Consumerology, who can tell us about why honesty isn't always the best policy.
INSERTPhilip Graves, Psychologist and author of the book ConsumerologyThe question is not 'Are most consumers honest, the question is 'Are most people honest?' – And the answer to that is 'no'. We have evolved with the capacity to be dishonest. It's part of our evolutionary psychological make up – because if we can gain an advantage over the people around us, we have a greater chance of surviving. Now what's important in that is that we also benefited from being in a social group and that was important in our evolutionary past so there is a balance to strike between the extent to which we can feather our own next, so to speak, and the risk of being ostracised by the group.
NeilA consumer is a person who buys things or services – for example, food or clothes.
RobOr the use of a parking space – or a taxi.
NeilNow, if I park my car and don't pay for the parking space, I'm being dishonest, but I'm also saving money.
RobAnd Philip Graves says being dishonest is part of our 'psychological make up'. What does that mean?
NeilOur psychological make up is the way the human mind works – the way we think.
RobAnd it makes sense to be dishonest if you gain an advantage through this behaviour. So when you take something without paying for it, you save money you can spend on something else. 
NeilSo why do we place such importance on being honest then? – If we benefit from being dishonest?
RobBecause it's selfish behaviour – which other members of our social group won't like. If everybody acted selfishly and dishonestly all the time, the world would be a very unpleasant place! 
NeilSelfish – meaning only caring about yourself and not about other people. That's a good point, Rob.
RobYes, societies work better if people behave co-operatively – which means working together towards shared goals.
NeilSo honesty really is the best policy then – at least most of the time! 

DanAnd now it's time for the answer to the quiz. Who said ‘honesty is the best policy’?

Neil
What do you think, Rob?
RobOK. Was it Benjamin Franklin?
NeilAnd that was… the right answer! Maybe the question was too easy! Benjamin Franklin wrote it in a book of proverbs called Poor Richard's Almanac between 1732 and 1758. Other famous quotes include 'There are no pains without gains' and 'Have you something to do tomorrow? Do it today.' OK let's follow Franklin's wise words and move right ahead with the vocabulary items we learned today.







copied from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/features/6-minute-english/ep-170727

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