External and Intrapsychic Factors Determining Unethical Behaviours and Controversial Practices in Science

From one side, investigators are expected to strive for reliability and trustworthiness in publishing scientific data; on the other, meeting the numerous research indicators of their professional work. In this article, various aspects of controversial practices concerning intentional skipping essential issues in a paper, hypothesizing after results, data improvement, and statistical and methodological tweaking are examined. The current paper proposes the holistic understanding of the causes of controversial practices includes the constellation of external factors in the context of the intrapsychic functioning of scientists. This approach gives a deeper insight into unethical behaviour mechanisms through the prism of needs, values, and personality traits. Self-enhancement values, narcissism, Machiavellianism, hubristic pride, as well as needs for competition, glory, success, self-esteem enhancement, obsessive passion, may provide fertile ground for unethical behaviour in science.