People have a tendency to deliberately avoid information that could threaten their well-being and happiness. Scientists have proven that failure to access information is only one of the many strategies people can employ to avoid pieces of content disruptive with their beliefs.
The study, published in the Journal of Economic Literature, was carried out by researchers at the Carnegie Mellon University.
Information Avoidance, A Way To Confirm Beliefs
Aside from avoiding unpleasant information, people can also selectively direct their attention to pieces of content that confirm their beliefs, while also forgetting whatever they wished weren't true.
"We commonly think of information as a means to an end. However, a growing theoretical and experimental literature suggests that information may directly enter the agent's utility function. This can create an incentive to avoid information, even when it is useful, free, and independent of strategic considerations," the researchers noted.
For instance, people who are on a specific diet and trying to lose weight will often prefer not to look for the number of calories in a dessert, while those who have a higher risk of developing a certain medical condition will avoid a medical screening that could confirm their fears.
However, information avoidance can be more nuanced when it comes to everyday life. People choose the news sources that best align with their beliefs instead of getting information from a wide array of sources, as this could challenge their understanding of the world.
"The standard account of information in economics is that people should seek out information that will aid in decision making, should never actively avoid information, and should dispassionately update their views when they encounter new valid information," said George Loewenstein, co-author of the study.
According to Loewenstein, people also avoid information that could improve the results of their decision-making processes, if they believe that said information is painful to receive. Professors who are not very good at teaching could improve their techniques through feedback from their students. However, because of the uncomfortable position they're finding themselves in, they often refuse it.
When the information cannot be simply ignored, people have a series of techniques that allow them to interpret it in a manner that still benefits their pre-existing perspective. For instance, questionable evidence is suddenly accepted as being trustworthy when it confirms what people believe, while rigorous research is often ignored because it is against what people wish to believe. An example of this type of avoidance is given by the people who say that climate change is a hoax, despite the studies proving otherwise.
Confirmation Biases In Interpreting Information
A confirmation bias is the tendency to look for or interpret information in a manner that confirms one's beliefs, while giving disproportionate attention to other hypotheses, which are generally conflicting.
"Confirmation bias, as the term is typically used in the psychological literature, connotes the seeking or interpreting of evidence in ways that are partial to existing beliefs, expectations, or a hypothesis in hand," noted a study published in the journal Review of General Psychology, in 1998.
Since the digitalization of information, confirmation biases and information avoidance are easier than ever. The algorithms used by social media networks allow people to follow solely news sources that confirm their existing beliefs, thus potentially encouraging this phenomenon.
In an attempt to address this issue, Facebook has changed its algorithm in August 2016 to prioritize informative stories.
