That Thinker statuette serving as a bookend in your office someday may include a 3D printer option for a “Dan Ariley Model.”

The man is one of the world’s foremost thinkers based on his string of best-selling books and growing list of achievements.

What does best-selling author and Duke professor Dan Ariely have in common with some of the best-known names in business, economics and government? He’s on the latest “50 Most Influential” list from Bloomberg Markets Magazine.

Under the “THINKERS” category, the professor of psychology and behavioral economics is cited this way:

“Dan Ariely PROFESSOR Duke University In his 2012 best-seller, The Honest Truth About Dishonesty, the behavioral economist looks at why and when people cheat – a topic with resonance on Wall Street. Ariely, 46, specializes in the study of how bad decisions get made.”

The list is coming in the October issue.

The Bloomberg promo omits a key part of the latest Ariely best-seller titles, however. The full title reads: “The Honest Truth About Dishonesty: How We Lie to Everyone – Especially Ourselves.”

Doesn’t the post-colon part of the title really add to its appeal? It does if you are the least bit open to some self-examiniation.

“Over the past decade or so, my colleagues and I have taken a close look at why people cheat, using a variety of experiments and looking at a panoply of unique data sets—from insurance claims to employment histories to the treatment records of doctors and dentists,” Ariely writes.

“What we have found, in a nutshell: Everybody has the capacity to be dishonest, and almost everybody cheats—just by a little. Except for a few outliers at the top and bottom, the behavior of almost everyone is driven by two opposing motivations. On the one hand, we want to benefit from cheating and get as much money and glory as possible; on the other hand, we want to view ourselves as honest, honorable people. Sadly, it is this kind of small-scale mass cheating, not the high-profile cases, that is most corrosive to society.”

Isn’t he right?

Of course, for those who are aware of Ariely, recognition is nothing new.

A promotional item for his latest of three best-sellers offers a nice summary of Ariely’s achievements:

“Dan Ariely, behavioral economist and the New York Times bestselling author of The Upside of Irrationality and Predictably Irrational, examines the contradictory forces that drive us to cheat and keep us honest, in this groundbreaking look at the way we behave: The (Honest) Truth About Dishonesty.”

But there’s much more to Ariely than books. He is a principal with a global consulting firm (BEWorks: BEWORKS: Applying Behavioral Economics to Real-World Challenges), and he writes an insightful, often humorous column for The Wall Street Journal (“Ask Ariely”).

While answers to readers’ questions about everything from waiting for a park place to picking a place to life can be quite insightful and necessarily lengthy, Ariely also can cut to the chase.

An example:

“Dear Dan,

“I spend a lot of time in not-very-interesting conferences calls using Skype and Google Hangout. I try to get things done during this time by using my computer to answer emails: I turn off the video capability, so that no one can see me, and try to type quietly, so that no one can hear. But the sound of the keyboard seems to vibrate through the computer, and the person on the other side knows I am not paying attention. Any advice?”

(Answer): 

This is exactly what tablets are for.

Then there is this more serious question:

“What is the best way to inject some rationality into our decision-making?”

(Answer):

“I am not certain of the best way, but here is one approach that might help: When we face decisions, we are trapped within our own perspective—our own special motivations and emotions, our egocentric view of the world at that moment. To make decisions that are more rational, we want to eliminate those barriers and look at the situation more objectively. One way to do this is to think not of making a decision for yourself but of recommending a decision for somebody else you like. This lets you view the situation in a colder, more detached way and make better decisions.”

He goes on to talk about how we make personal medical decisions and how they would likely differ from recommendations we would make for a friend – such as overcoming personal loyalty to a doctor to seek a second opinion.

But Ariely’s latest book obviously caught the Bloomberg editors’ attention.

The cover poses questions we all ponder – if we are honest with ourselves:

  • Does the chance of getting caught affect how likely we are to cheat?
  • How do companies pave the way for dishonesty?
  • Does collaboration make us more or less honest?
  • Does religion improve our honesty?

“Most of us think of ourselves as honest, but, in fact, we all cheat,” the jacket reads. “From Washington to Wall Street, the classroom to the workplace, unethical behavior is everywhere. None of us is immune, whether it’s a white lie to head off trouble or padding our expense reports. In The (Honest) Truth About Dishonesty, award-winning, bestselling author Dan Ariely shows why some things are easier to lie about than others; how getting caught matters less than we think in whether we cheat; and how business practices pave the way for unethical behavior, both intentionally and unintentionally. Ariely explores how unethical behavior works in the personal, professional, and political worlds, and how it affects all of us, even as we think of ourselves as having high moral standards. But all is not lost. Ariely also identifies what keeps us honest, pointing the way for achieving higher ethics in our everyday lives.

“With compelling personal and academic findings, The (Honest) Truth About Dishonesty will change the way we see ourselves, our actions, and others.”

Have you read this yet? Put away that new Jack Reacher novel and dive in. 

To be honest with you, I am doing exactly that.

Well, maybe.

But I recommend that you prioritize Ariely’s book.