Emma Levine

Sure.

So this is a scenario about layoffs.

The manager knows layoffs are coming.

We have to tell the employees.

And one of the employees drops by on a Friday afternoon, says, hey, what's going on?

I'm about to head out for the weekend.

And this is the opportunity for the manager to tell the employee about the layoffs.

So in the control condition, that's about all the information that we give participants.

And in that case, most people think you should tell the truth.

And only about 22, 23 percent of participants think the right thing to do is to lie.

Now, in another condition, participants learn that the employee swings by on a Friday before leaving for their wedding, which is on Saturday.

Right.

That changes how we think about this.

Now, 52% of participants think that you should lie.

So a significant amount more because why would you spoil this person's wedding?

You could just tell them right the next week.

And this is actually, you know, something that comes up in different religions and different texts that you really shouldn't spoil sacred events in any

In Judaism, a book called the Talmud, they debate kind of some of these situations.

They say you should always tell a bride she's beautiful on her wedding day because why would you spoil that special time no matter what you really think?

So all of these situations, what they're doing is they're mapping this logic of unnecessary harm.