The road to fraud starts with a single step

http://www.nature.com/news/the-road-to-fraud-starts-with-a-single-step-1.9321?WT.ec_id=NEWS-20111115

Diederik Stapel, a social psychologist and author of many published papers, has resigned his position at Tilburg University in the Netherlands after admitting to fabricating data in his research (see Nature 479, 15; 2011).

Such cases of outright fraud in science are distressing for many reasons. For example, they damage the careers of students and collaborators, and raise doubts about all papers by the same author. Most importantly, they damage public trust in science and in scientists. In this case, trust in social psychologists, and the work we do, has been undermined.

To understand fraud in science, the useful lesson is the significance of that first tiny step. Every minor transgression — dropping an inconvenient data point, or failing to give credit where it is due — creates a threat to self-image. The perpetrators are forced to ask themselves: am I really that sort of person? Then, to avoid the discomfort of this threat, they rationalize and justify their way out, until their behaviour feels comfortable and right. This makes the next transgression seem not only easier, but even morally correct.