Conflict of Interest as a Cognitive Bias

Abstract

For many years, conflict of interest has been a topic of debate in professional ethics, whereby the performance of a professional obligation can be potentially affected by a financial or non-financial interest. However, studies on conflict of interest often do not include cognitive perspectives. In this study, it was hypothesized that conflict of interest might shape the perception of the situation in a subconscious manner. To test the hypothesis, we have designed an experiment using one of the well-known empirical paradigms of consciousness studies—the masking paradigm. In three experimental conditions (i.e., conflict of interest, neutral, and alignment of interest), participants were exposed to several subliminal visual stimuli in a series of trials. Results show that interest can have a direct impact on subconscious processes and subsequently perception in such a way that alignment of interest is accompanied by increasing the probability of correct perception, and conflict of interest would lead to more wrong perception. Finally, some of the impacts of this cognitive bias on scientific observation, data management, and underdetermination resolution are investigated.