The Hypocrisy Trap: How Changing What We Criticize Can Improve Our Lives

by Michael Hallsworth

How our desire to stamp out hypocrisy is backfiring—and how learning to target our criticisms better can improve our politics, business, and personal relationships.

In our increasingly distrusting and polarized nations, accusations of hypocrisy are everywhere. But the strange truth is that our attempts to stamp out hypocrisy often backfire, creating what Michael Hallsworth calls The Hypocrisy Trap. In this groundbreaking book, he shows how our relentless drive to expose inconsistency between words and deeds can actually breed more hypocrisy or, worse, cynicism that corrodes democracy itself.

Through engaging stories and original research, Hallsworth shows that not all hypocrisy is equal. While some forms genuinely destroy trust and create harm, others reflect the inevitable compromises of human nature and complex societies. The Hypocrisy Trap offers practical ways to increase our own consistency, navigate accusations wisely, and change how we judge others’ actions. Hallsworth shows vividly that we can improve our politics, businesses, and personal relationships if we rethink hypocrisy—soon.

Genres: Nonfiction, Psychology

286 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 14, 2025

About the author

Michael Hallsworth is a leading figure in applying behavioral science to real-world challenges. For the last 20 years he has been an official and an advisor for governments around the world, and co-founded a 250-person consultancy business.

Michael has a PhD in behavioral economics from Imperial College London and has held positions at Princeton University, Columbia University, and the University of Pennsylvania.

Reviews

[Nick Down · Rating 5 out of 5]

An enjoyable, thought-provoking and significant book. Michael achieves a really fine balance between a clear argument and supporting structure, compelling academic evidence and a leavening mix of literary, contemporary and personal illustrations. His analysis of how we might reasonably react to hypocrisy reads across to achieving tolerance in an age in which it is all too easy to become polarised, defensive and insular.

[Casey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hypocrisy was something that I never really thought in depth about, and generally assumed hypocrisy = bad. This book does a good job of peeling back the layers to assessing types of hypocrisy and their impacts, what we should reconsider, and how we move forward. I came out convinced that, like so, so many other things, hypocrisy is a nuanced and complex topic. Not something that can be handled as a binary and immediately groups with other instances of hypocrisy.

[Michael Kaemingk · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an essential and timely treatment of hypocrisy that spoke directly to my own felt sense of anger at our current political moment and those with different political beliefs than my own. It made clear my own tolerance of hypocrisy was mis-calibrated (i.e., I have too little) and was a delightful, humane read.