Conflict of interest and the intrusion of bias
Journal Title: Judgment and Decision Making - Year 2010, Vol 5, Issue 1
Abstract
This paper explores the psychology of conflict of interest by investigating how conflicting interests affect both public statements and private judgments. The results suggest that judgments are easily influenced by affiliation with interested partisans, and that this influence extends to judgments made with clear incentives for objectivity. The consistency we observe between public and private judgments indicates that participants believed their biased assessments. Our results suggest that the psychology of conflict of interest is at odds with the way economists and policy makers routinely think about the problem. We conclude by exploring implications of this finding for professional conduct and public policy.
Authors and Affiliations
Don A. Moore, Lloyd Tanlu and Max H. Bazerman
Keywords
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