Confidentiality is a central aspect of international arbitration meant to protect interests, mostly economic, which are ordinarily not deemed confidential in litigation. As a result, several rules and procedures have been adopted in international arbitration to promote and enforce confidentiality. These rules and procedures involve behavioural aspects which this article identifies using behavioural law and economics (BLE). BLE recognizes that people display bounded rationality, bounded willpower and bounded self-interest which explains why parties favour certain arbitration rules and procedures on confidentiality. An examination of leading arbitration rules such as the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) Rules, as well as separate procedures generally practiced by arbitration practitioners, show that BLE principles play a critical role in shaping party approaches to confidentiality in international arbitration. Bounded rationality is the most prominent BLE principle in both arbitration rules and procedures relating to confidentiality.