The Center for Advanced Hindsight at Duke University is

Pleased to Coordinate and Host the Exhibition

Creative Dishonesty: Cheat Codes

on display at 2024 W Main St, Bay C, Durham, NC from

December 3, 2011 to January 31, 2012.

with an opening reception on

December 16, 2011   6 – 10 PM

As a magnanimous gesture of support for artistic ingenuity and creative perspectives, twenty artists were invited to create innovative and engaging artwork in response to research on behavioral economics, dishonesty, and cheating after attending an interactive forum at the Center for Advanced Hindsight.

With no limitation to the style or media of pieces created for “Creative Dishonesty: Cheat Codes,” a portion of the artists, which included sculptors, painters, and photographers, branched out stylistically from their normal medium, while others pushed conceptual boundaries.

Albert Gilewicz, a sculptor, utilized “Ethos” bottled water as the foundation for a sculpture exploring the truth behind branding and corporate marketing, compelling the viewer to confront the reality of selling their morality for the sum total of $0.05 donated to the development of drinkable water sources in Africa.

Artist Kerry Cox created an interactive installation that questions the nature of imagery as “moral” or “immoral” through audience participation.  In a similar vein, Bruce Mitchell and Adrian Schlesinger created projects inquire how to classify an image as “art” after mechanical tools are used to enlarge, project, draft, and print.

Meet these artists and many others at the opening reception on December 16^th from 6-10 PM!  Pick their brains about the relationship between creativity, honesty, cheating, and the “fudge factor”.   Join us on Third Friday for delicious food, wine, thoughtful artwork, and lively conversation at the Center for Advanced Hindsight, 2024 W Main St, Bay C, Durham, NC.

An exhibit catalogue, including reflections by the artists alongside responses from the curator and the researchers at the Center for Advanced Hindsight, will be published and available for purchase.

For more information about the Creative Dishonesty project, contact curator Catherine Howard atcreativedishonesty@gmail.com.

The Center for Advanced Hindsight at Duke University is

Pleased to Coordinate and Host the Exhibition

Creative Dishonesty: Cheat Codes

on display at 2024 W Main St, Bay C, Durham, NC from

December 3, 2011 to January 31, 2012.

with an opening reception on

December 16, 2011   6 – 10 PM

As a magnanimous gesture of support for artistic ingenuity and creative perspectives, twenty artists were invited to create innovative and engaging artwork in response to research on behavioral economics, dishonesty, and cheating after attending an interactive forum at the Center for Advanced Hindsight.

With no limitation to the style or media of pieces created for “Creative Dishonesty: Cheat Codes,” a portion of the artists, which included sculptors, painters, and photographers, branched out stylistically from their normal medium, while others pushed conceptual boundaries.

Albert Gilewicz, a sculptor, utilized “Ethos” bottled water as the foundation for a sculpture exploring the truth behind branding and corporate marketing, compelling the viewer to confront the reality of selling their morality for the sum total of $0.05 donated to the development of drinkable water sources in Africa.

Artist Kerry Cox created an interactive installation that questions the nature of imagery as “moral” or “immoral” through audience participation.  In a similar vein, Bruce Mitchell and Adrian Schlesinger created projects inquire how to classify an image as “art” after mechanical tools are used to enlarge, project, draft, and print.

Meet these artists and many others at the opening reception on December 16^th from 6-10 PM!  Pick their brains about the relationship between creativity, honesty, cheating, and the “fudge factor”.   Join us on Third Friday for delicious food, wine, thoughtful artwork, and lively conversation at the Center for Advanced Hindsight, 2024 W Main St, Bay C, Durham, NC.

An exhibit catalogue, including reflections by the artists alongside responses from the curator and the researchers at the Center for Advanced Hindsight, will be published and available for purchase.

For more information about the Creative Dishonesty project, contact curator Catherine Howard at creativedishonesty@gmail.com.

My next book is about dishonesty, the little daily lies we tell but quickly justify. Right now I have a few ideas for what to call it, but I would really like your feedback. What would you find more appealing? Let me know here. Thanks for your feedback.

Here I discuss Chapter 11 from Upside of Irrationality, Lessons from Our Irrationalities: Why We Need to Test Everything.

Did you know that free checking works by exploiting the everyday cash shortages of the poorest in our country? There is a company that dresses it up and sells it to banks.

I recently moved to Durham from Boston, and as it goes I had to set up new accounts to establish services for my loft. Part of this task involved deciding on a bank to take my deposits and facilitate payments. I set up a simple matrix to help me decide on a bank that included two simple categories: proximity and fees. There were plenty of banks within a reasonable distance to me, but where my matrix failed was in the fee category.

Apparently, “free” checking accounts are now ubiquitous. Sounds good, right? Not for me. I work in behavioral economics. Free checking looks to me like Winnie the Pooh walking out of a XXX movie theater. In other words, innocence doesn’t have sweat on its sneaky brow. There is no such thing as free, it’s just hiding. Cost can be intangible, but this is not the case with free checking. So, who pays for free checking for all of us? Consumers with illiquidity issues, and these are the people who need their money the most. There cannot be a worse target. What used to be called a penalty fee for overdrafting an account is now called a convenience fee or value added service. How appealing. These fees add up and happen frequently enough to offer free checking.

I had to ask, from whom are all of these banks getting this bright idea? I found that banks of all sizes offer free checking, so this tells me that there must be a third party facilitator. I searched for B2B bank products under the granddaddy of all bank facilitators, Fiserv, and smiling at me like Miss America with AIDS was none other than Carreker.

Carreker calls it Revenue Enhancement and it is a very attractive service for any bank that puts money before fairness to consumers. Carreker enables a bank to collect on penalty fees and clear transactions in real time, which is how Carreker can boast that the bank will see immediate results. It is not because they have done something truly beneficial for the customer. Most of all, Carreker actually controls the overdraft decisions. They have their hand on the penalty revenue throttle. As a customer’s account goes negative, they can allow the customer to overdraft not once but for several transactions, thus incurring high fees. Senior Vice President and Managing Director of Carreker Revenue Enhancement, Jeff Burton, claims that the “fee income market is fine” provided that you [the bank] position yourself with Carreker to share in the wealth.

Aggressive revenue seeking has changed the manner of normal operations into more of a production model. Banks now call overdraft penalties by a new name: exception revenue. Furthermore, they want you to see it as if they are doing you a favor and that it is okay, in fact perfectly fine as you now know, if you need to overdraft your account. The negative connotation has been replaced by the notion that your bank is forgiving and would never prevent you from making that gratifying purchase. It is not right to allow customers to pay an average of 9 X $30 if they miscalculate their account balance. Alas, Carreker does not stop with their exception revenue system.

Burton states that they have gone as far as to create a special framework for one of their clients to allow them to profit from payday loans. This is what they call their approach to increase overall revenue and customer utilization. I’m not sure about you, but I am not here to be “utilized.” Carreker will continue to innovate new ways to capitalize on the hardships of consumers. Most frighteningly, they are not just an idea firm because they actually provide the framework, algorithms, and integration to allow the bank to carry on these evil deeds.

For what’s it’s worth, I changed my decision matrix to seek a bank that had all around low fees, so I can avoid living off of the money of people who desperately need it. I’m still looking.

~Myles Leighton~

Here I discuss Chapter 10 from Upside of Irrationality, The Long-Term Effects of Short-Term Emotion: Why We Shouldn’t Act on Our Negative Feelings.

Artists from around the world are invited to attend a discussion about behavioral economics, dishonesty and cheating at the Center for Advanced Hindsight on October 25 at 7:30 PM EST.  (Artists who do not live within driving distance of Durham, NC can watch the forum streaming live online.)

Interested artists should RSVP to Catherine Howard (irrationalcreativity@gmail.com) by October 24 by 9 PM for driving directions and/or the online streaming link.

After the forum, applications will be circulated to artists interested in creating artwork to depict their reflection on cheating and dishonesty.  Applications will include a brief explanation of the artist’s creative process and 2-3 digital images of past work.

Please submit applications to Catherine Howard at irrationalcreativity@gmail.com by October 28.

Artists will be notified if they are selected to participate by October 29 and will receive a $100 stipend to complete their piece.  There is no limitation to the style or media of pieces created for “Cheat Codes,” but all work must be completed by November 26. 

Artwork created for “Cheat Codes” will be on display the Center for Advanced Hindsight from December 3, 2011 to January 31, 2012.  An exhibit catalogue / book, including responses and reflections by the artists and the researchers at The Center For Advanced Hindsight, will be published. Each artist will receive a copy.

Artists will retain all rights to their piece. Works will be returned to artists after the exhibit by February 15, 2012.  If the piece is purchased, the $100 stipend will be deducted from the purchase price.

Important Deadlines

Oct 25, 7:30 PM: Dishonesty forum at the Center for Advanced Hindsight
Oct 28, 9 PM: Deadline to apply for participation in “Dishonesty”
Oct 29, 9 PM: Selected artists will be notified
Nov 26, 9 PM: Drop-off deadline
Dec 16, 6 – 10 PM: Opening reception at the Center for Advanced Hindsight

For more information about the Creative Dishonesty project, contact curator Catherine Howard at irrationalcreativity@gmail.com.

Here I discuss Chapter 9 from Upside of Irrationality, On Empathy and Emotion: Why We Respond to One Person Who Needs Help but Not to Many.

Calling All Artists for “Cheat Codes”

Artists from around the world are invited to attend a discussion about behavioral economics, dishonesty and cheating at the Center for Advanced Hindsight on October 25 at 7:30 PM EST.  (Artists who do not live within driving distance of Durham, NC can watch the forum streaming live online.)

Interested artists should RSVP to Catherine Howard (irrationalcreativity@gmail.com) by October 24 by 9 PM for driving directions and/or the online streaming link.

After the forum, applications will be circulated to artists interested in creating artwork to depict their reflection on cheating and dishonesty.  Applications will include a brief explanation of the artist’s creative process and 2-3 digital images of past work.

Please submit applications to Catherine Howard at irrationalcreativity@gmail.com by October 28.

Artists will be notified if they are selected to participate by October 29 and will receive a $100 stipend to complete their piece.  There is no limitation to the style or media of pieces created for “Cheat Codes,” but all work must be completed by November 26. 

Artwork created for “Cheat Codes” will be on display the Center for Advanced Hindsight from December 3, 2011 to January 31, 2012.  An exhibit catalogue / book, including responses and reflections by the artists and the researchers at The Center For Advanced Hindsight, will be published. Each artist will receive a copy.

Artists will retain all rights to their piece. Works will be returned to artists after the exhibit by February 15, 2012.  If the piece is purchased, the $100 stipend will be deducted from the purchase price.

Important Deadlines

Oct 25, 7:30 PM: Dishonesty forum at the Center for Advanced Hindsight
Oct 28, 9 PM: Deadline to apply for participation in “Dishonesty”
Oct 29, 9 PM: Selected artists will be notified
Nov 26, 9 PM: Drop-off deadline
Dec 16, 6 – 10 PM: Opening reception at the Center for Advanced Hindsight

For more information about the Creative Dishonesty project, contact curator Catherine Howard at irrationalcreativity@gmail.com.

Here I discuss Chapter 8 from Upside of Irrationality, When a Market Fails: An Example from Online Dating.