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Cheating? Lying? Why Do We Do It?

Lance Armstrong’s shocking confession and his stunning fall from grace is the story everyone is talking about. From cheating in sports to cheating on the job, notorious cheaters go to extremes to have it all. What makes them do it? Do we all cheat, even just a little? And what kind of example are we setting for kids?

Last night, Lance Armstrong finally came clean, admitting to using performance enhancing drugs after years of rumors and accusations. But did he come clean enough? Was his admission enough to right years of wrong? A panel of sports experts that have been following Lance’s career tell us what they think about his admission: Mary Carillo, a sports commentator for HBO and NBC and a former professional tennis player; Buzz Bissinger, a columnist for the Daily Beast and author of Friday Night Lights, who published a piece last summer defending Lance Armstrong and then retracted that view this week; Christine Brennan, a sportswriter and columnist for USA Today, who has covered Lance Armstrong for years.

“If it’s possible Katie, I think people probably feel worse about Lance Armstrong.” -Christine Brennan

@katieshow What was the reason that he confessed now? So, he just wakes up one day & decides to fess up??… Gotta be more to story.

— Undercover Mother (@UndrcvrMother) January 18, 2013

Very few people know what Lance Armstrong is going through today better than Joe Papp. He is a former pro cyclist who admitted to doping in 2006 and served a six month house arrest and a two-year suspension from the sport.

“The guy is still a hero.” -Joe Papp

@katiecouric He’s still a hero and the demand of our culture supported and pushed him to do it.

— Britney ☥ McCrae (@femmefatale_10) January 18, 2013

Lance Armstrong’s confession has us thinking about cheating in all aspects of our lives. Cheating is a familiar story. First comes the cheating, then comes the lying about it, and then comes the confession, most often because that person has been caught. So why do we cheat? T answer that question for us is David DeSteno, a professor of psychology at Northeastern University and the author of Out of Character: Surprising Truths About the Liar, Cheat, Sinner and Saint Lurking in All of Us.

“The mind has a really great way of rationalizing.”-David DeSteno

@katieshow Your quiz just said I might cheat “more than you might expect”!!! What does that mean?! lol I see myself as very honest. :-(

— ChickOpinion (@ChickOpinion) January 18, 2013

If other people around you, at work or at school, are cheating, would you cheat too? Walt Pavlo was forced to answer that question when he was a senior manager at MCI World Comm. He did cheat and was convicted of embezzling six million dollars and spent two years in prison.

“You don’t know how big the lie is going to get.” -Walt Palvo

@katieshow We cheat and lie because we don’t care. We want glory and will do anything to make it happen. Makes me sick.

— Andrea Patrick (@AndreaKcc) January 18, 2013

What do you tell your kids when a sports star of Lance Armstrong’s stature falls from grace? How do you use it as a teachable moment? Parenting blogger Amy Graff has written about that topic.

“We need to let our kids fail so they can learn how to lose.” -Amy Graff

Heard on @katieshow “An apology cannot be given in a text message” worrrrd…nor an email. Happened to me last year, I just shook my head…

— Sunny Anderson (@SunnyAnderson) January 18, 2013

A large part of Lance Armstrong’s legacy has been the Livestrong Foundation, which he founded in 1997 after a battle with advanced testicular cancer. Evan Handler is a star on Showtime’s Californication, is a spokesperson for Livestrong and a cancer survivor.