63 Unethical Life Pro Tips That Work Too Well To Write Them Off

People justify their unethical behavior in various ways while still maintaining a positive self-image.

For instance, they might choose to view their behavior as morally ambiguous and in a grey area.

“Some situations are indeed morally complex or confusing, but people may interpret the information at hand in a selective manner,” writes social and health psychologist Juliana Breines, PhD.

Meanwhile, another way to justify doing something unethical is to frame it as an act of altruism. In a nutshell, people are more comfortable using deception for personal gain if they can justify things as selflessness.

What’s more, individuals feel better about their own unethical behavior by harshly judging other people who have done the same thing. This is so-called ethical distancing. It is, at its core, hypocrisy at its finest.

“Studies of ethical distancing have found that it is more likely to occur under certain conditions. First, the person has to see the behavior in question as immoral. Sometimes after a transgression, people will rationalize it by viewing it as less problematic, in which case they might judge others less harshly for the same offense. Second, the person has to believe that their own transgression is unlikely to be exposed, lest they risk appearing hypocritical,” Breines explains.

The ‘Unethical Life Pro Tips’ group has been sharing slightly shady life hacks for more than a decade, since it was founded in March 2016.

According to the moderators who run the group, this is a digital space for tips that improve your life in meaningful ways, “perhaps at the expense of others and/or with questionable legality.”

Naturally, ethical life hacks are allowed too, so long as they provide “more benefit than the unethical tip.”

The mods emphasize that tips must not be obvious and have to actually provide you with some benefit. If your life hack is just a clever way of being a jerk, you’re in the wrong place.

Furthermore, you’re not allowed to share any illegal advice. Nor are you allowed to share “clever ways of stealing from other people or businesses for the sake of stealing.”

We want to hear your perspectives in the comments at the bottom of this post, Pandas!

Which of these life hacks do you personally think you’d find useful in your day-to-day life? Which ones would you be fine with, and which ones are slightly too unethical for you to even consider testing out?

Meanwhile, what are the best life hacks that protect your time, money, and energy that you’d like to pass on to your fellow readers? Let us know!