Aside from personal super-ego functions, there are also public institutions that have been established to address anti-social matters such as cheating and purposeful lying. We find that sanctuaries are established in some societies to which transgressors travels and in which they often are required to ponder on the nature of and reasons for the sin they have committed. As is to be the outcome of successful Catholic confession, the sinner hopefully will depart the sanctuary with new insights and a commitment to reforming their behavior.
There are other forms of reparation that take on a more public character. Reparations are found in acts that require the transgressor to do something in their community that counters the harm they have done. They “make amends.” This often means engaging in charity—which enables the perpetrator to feel good after feeling bad (guilt). The community and specifically the victim is also likely to feel a bit better after witnessed the perpetrator do some good (especially if this “good” benefits the victim). An important question must be posed: does this form of reparation work or does it just encourage future cheating (or other anti-social acts)?
One of us [WB] had a chance to attend a course taught by James Luther Adams, a noted theological and social historian. Adams devoted considerable time to this matter of charity and the role it plays in reparation of personal and collective guilt. He suggests that charity often serves as a substitute for genuine social reform. We offer those who are poor a handout rather than a hand-up. We help to fund a hospital that primarily serves those who are addicted to opiates rather than helping to pass laws and establish policies that prevent this addiction in the first place. As Adams noted, the word “handicap” comes from the old tradition of those who are disabled sitting on the street corner with their cap in hand asking us to drop a few pittances into the hat to support them and their family. Guilt is assuaged but nothing really changes in society. The cheater can go back to cheating, knowing that there is a vehicle for their personal reparation.
Rectification: Actions
While reparation might benefit the cheater and liar, it does not necessary do anything to repair the damage that has been done. Do I seek in some way to “heal” other people who I have wounded through my cheating? Do I try to correct a mistake I have made in reporting a falsehood to my spouse or friend? Do I not only tell the truth but also do something to make up for this misrepresentation of reality? At the very least do I tell them that I am sorry? Can I do something more?
There is the matter of social exchange vs. market exchange—which is an important distinction being drawn in recent years by behavioral economists. If a market exchange is engaged when seeking rectification, then there will be an exchange of money or something else of financial value. I pay you for the harm I have done. I pay the hospital or psychotherapy bills. Our company compensates your company for the erroneous advertisements we have produced about your company. I pay alimony as a “cost” associated with adultery and subsequent divorce.
If the rectification is to take place through a social exchange, then I take you out to dinner or send you flowers in recognition of the minor harm I have done in telling you I was at work last night (when I was really out at a bar with my buddies). I come to visit you every evening at the hospital after I have failed to tell you last week that I forgot to get the medication you require. My marketing department is going to host a special party for members of the sales department because we told them that the ad was going in this month when it actually will not appear till next month (after the sales campaign has already been underway for two weeks). No money changes hands—though some money will be spent on the dinner, flowers and party. We could just give this money to the aggrieved party, but this would probably add insult to injury. Some cheating is never forgiven with financial compensation.
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