Dr. Cain’s research combines behavioral economics and philosophy to study decision-making, especially decisions that involve self-restraint. He is considered an expert on how people evaluate conflicts of interest. For example, Dr. Cain has shown that when people disclose their conflicts of interest, they relax their self-restraint. Disclosure makes people feel morally licensed to serve their own personal interests (at the expense of their obligations to their audience) after “the audience has been warned.”