Bienvenido N. Santos Creative Writing Center

We all like to think of ourselves as honest persons. But can anyone really say that they have been truly honest in all situations, and towards everyone they have interacted with? It would be highly unlikely for anyone to say “Yes” to this question. In fact, if one answers “Yes,” then one is probably lying. A review of the literature on dishonesty shows support for this assumption as there is evidence for lying to occur in as much as one in every three social interactions. People have been found to be dishonest with each other in various settings . As dishonesty seems to be inevitable, one might surmise that perhaps there is some function to why people cannot be truly honest all of the time.

Studying dishonesty is relevant in the counseling profession, as there is emphasis and importance placed on genuineness of counselors. Genuineness has been known to positively influence the therapeutic alliance, and a strong alliance between counselor and client can help clients meet their counselling goals and help them recover from their issues. Clients, including Filipino clients, also expect and prefer counselors who exhibit honesty.

Eighty four Filipino counselors with at least one year of active practice participated in the study by answering a survey to gather dishonest behaviors and motivations. This survey was an which was an adaptation of the situation sampling method. The findings have given us a more detailed look at dishonesty in the counseling setting as they have provided documentation of counselors’ actual dishonest behaviors. Although counselors more frequently reported being dishonest towards their clients, this does not necessarily indicate that the behavior is malicious or harmful. Counselors reported being dishonest to accommodate the client even though they did not feel ready or willing to do so, to lie about their perception of clients’ attributes to give hope to clients about the client’s situation and try to make the client feel better.