Cognitive biases understood from the eyes: what impact on professional skepticism

Résumé En

Although cognitive biases have been widely linked to poor quality decisions in auditing, their effect on certain behavioral variables critical to audit quality has not been fully verified. Previous studies have laid the groundwork by identifying the impact of cognitive biases on hypothesis generation, compliance testing, and other decision-making contexts. In this study, the impact of the framing bias and the optimism bias on professional skepticism, a marker of audit quality, is sought. Furthermore, I use eye tracking technology in order to develop an understanding of how cognitive load may interact with these cognitive biases and professional skepticism. Using a laboratory user experimental approach, I find that these cognitive biases unnecessarily increase cognitive load and processing levels, as measured by the total duration of fixation metric such that auditor’s professional skepticism is negatively affected.