Introduction
All people cheat at least once in their life by telling lies or doing something that they are not allowed to do. It happens because of many reasons such as the desire to get profit or to feel better. This paper discusses possible reasons for cheating and explains why all individuals can be dishonest. The report provides personal experience and supports it with evidence.
Reasons for Cheating
Cheating is common for humans and animals as it is an easy way to get profit without trying hard. Students can cheat to have better scores in tests and professional sportspeople may use doping to improve their results (Fang and Casadevall 30). These facts mean that cheating is often used to receive benefit. However, there are many other reasons why people often decide to cheat.
In my experience, sometimes people are dishonest others because they are afraid to show their real self and be left alone. For example, individuals may tell lies when they do something wrong because they are afraid to lose their partner or a job. Fang and Casadevall agree that dishonesty may be caused by the fear of loss (35). Grolleau et al. report that people cheat out of fear more often than to gain benefit (3428).
In addition, I think that cheating may also happen because humans repeat each other’s behavior. For example, if students cheat in class, their peers may start to do so too when they see that there is no punishment for lying. The study by Jacobsen et al. shows that when individuals see dishonesty in others, they may start to think that lying is normal (368). Finally, many people cheat to have a better self-image. For example, they may say that they earn much money to make others envious. Fang and Casadevall support this idea and note that individuals cheat to feel good about themselves (36).
However, there is an opinion that the person’s gender is one of the main reasons for cheating. Jacobsen et al. note that males are usually more dishonest than females (365). However, the individual’s gender cannot be one of the main reason for dishonesty because people live in a society and use all methods to be attractive for others. For humans, cheating is one of these methods.
Conclusion
Cheating is common for people for many reasons. They include the desire to feel better, gain benefit, and avoid loss. Also, people may cheat because others do so and are not punished for it. A person’s gender is a possible reason of cheating but not the main one. It is possible to say that many humans cheat because it is natural for them to do so.
Works Cited
Fang, Ferric, and Arturo Casadevall. “Why We Cheat.” Scientific American Mind, vol. 24, no. 2, 2013, pp. 30-37.
Grolleau, Gilles, et al. “Cheating and Loss Aversion: Do People Cheat More to Avoid a Loss?.” Management Science, vol. 62, no. 12, 2016, pp. 3428-3438.
Jacobsen, Catrine, et al. “Why Do We Lie? A Practical Guide to the Dishonesty Literature.” Journal of Economic Surveys, vol. 32, no. 2, 2018, pp. 357-387.