Continued: Hypocrisy settles in for election

During any election cycle, we are sure to hear charges of "Hypocrisy!" over and over. If you ask an Internet search engine to show you articles containing the words "McCain hypocrisy" or "Obama hypocrisy," you will discover millions of results. It is almost as common as calling one of the candidates a liar.

If you think about it for a moment, you realize that hypocritical behavior isn't limited to elections, but is always with us. If an environmental activist boards a private jet or drives the wrong car, he is labeled a hypocrite.

When Sen. Larry Craig was caught toe-tapping in a men's restroom at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, he was labeled a hypocrite. So was megachurch pastor Ted Haggard when a male escort revealed their relationship. Both men received an extra measure of scorn because they had spoken out strongly against gay marriage.

And when U.S. forces were caught torturing prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, the entire U.S. government was accused of hypocrisy because it had claimed the moral high ground. There are examples like these in the news almost daily.

This raises the obvious question: What is hypocrisy? And why do humans engage in so much hypocritical behavior?

The Random House dictionary defines hypocrisy as "a pretense of having a virtuous character, moral or religious beliefs or principles, etc., that one does not really possess, a pretense of having some desirable or publicly approved attitude."

In particular, people raise the charge of hypocrisy when a person says one thing, but does something else.

People do not like it when a person claims to believe in something but then acts in a contradictory way. People especially do not like it when a person is exceedingly preachy about something, and then turns around and does exactly what he or she preached against.

Why would anyone behave in a hypocritical way? You can see the answer in the dictionary definition. Certain positions are "desirable or publicly approved." By publicly claiming those positions, people can gain the favor and approval of their peers, friends, family and others. This kind of positioning can be especially important to politicians who are trying to appeal to certain voters.

The problem is that "speaking about something" and "walking the walk" are two different things. For example, former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer spoke out against prostitution and had prosecuted people for prostitution. He also has a wife and kids. And he had to understand that if he got caught visiting a prostitute, it would end his political career. Yet he still visited a prostitute because carnal desire is a powerful force for some people. When he got caught, he was labeled a hypocrite.

Often, the cause is more benign. In the case of a privately jetting environmentalist, it might be inconvenient to use a more environmentally sensitive form of transport if a private plane is available. Expediency overrides principles.

There is also a strange phenomenon that occurs within individuals and groups. As individuals, we can be good at rationalizing our behaviors on the fly, even if those behaviors are hypocritical. If you have ever failed at a diet, then you have seen this process in action. Even though a person claims to be on a diet, it is still easy to rationalize an ice cream cone or a calorie-laden latte.

Experiments have proven that this same rationalization process applies to groups. So if a candidate behaves in a hypocritical way, his or her base is likely to ignore the hypocrisy. That ends up upsetting the opponent's base to no end, because they see the hypocrisy. But for the hypocritical candidate, it might mean that there is no immediate penalty for, or even recognition of, the hypocritical behavior.

And this explains why hypocrisy can be especially common during elections. Politicians need to publicly state their positions to appeal to voters. But those same voters tend to turn a blind eye to hypocrisy once they align with a candidate. It means that candidates can sometimes get away with hypocrisy without penalty.

But if politicians go too far with their hypocritical behavior, as in the case of Craig, who is not seeking reelection, or Spitzer, who resigned, the charge of hypocrisy can swiftly end their careers.