Hear what you want to hear? Don't worry, you're only human

New research illustrates how we tend to select our own realities by deliberately avoiding information that threatens our happiness and wellbeing.

People on diets, for example, prefer not to look at the calories in their tasty dessert, and people choose the news source that aligns with their political views.

In the Journal of Economic Literature, researchers show that while a simple failure to obtain information is the most clear-cut case of “information avoidance,” people have a wide range of other information-avoidance strategies at their disposal.

They also are remarkably adept at selectively directing their attention to information that affirms what they believe or that reflects favorably upon them, and at forgetting information they wish were not true.

“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,” says George Loewenstein, professor of economics and psychology at Carnegie Mellon University who co-founded the field of behavioral economics.

“But people often avoid information that could help them to make better decisions if they think the information might be painful to receive. Bad teachers, for example, could benefit from feedback from students, but are much less likely to pore over teaching ratings than skilled teachers,” Loewenstein says.

Vaccines and climate change

Even when people cannot outright ignore information, they often have substantial latitude in how to interpret it. People treat questionable evidence as credible when it confirms what they want to believe—as is the case of discredited research linking vaccines to autism. And they tend to discount evidence that meets the rigorous demands of science if it goes against what they want to believe, as illustrated by widespread dismissal of scientific evidence of climate change.

Information avoidance can be harmful, for example, when people miss opportunities to treat serious diseases early on or fail to learn about better financial investments that could prepare them for retirement.

“An implication of information avoidance is that we do not engage effectively with those who disagree with us,” says coauthor David Hagmann, a PhD student in the department of social and decision sciences. “Bombarding people with information that challenges their cherished beliefs—the usual strategy that people employ in attempts at persuasion—is more likely to engender defensive avoidance than receptive processing.

“If we want to reduce political polarization, we have to find ways not only to expose people to conflicting information, but to increase people’s receptivity to information that challenges what they believe and want to believe.”

It’s not just laziness

Despite the consequences, information avoidance isn’t always a mistake or a reflection of a lazy mind.

“People do it for a reason,” says coauthor Russell Golman, assistant professor of social and decision sciences. “Those who do not take a genetic test can enjoy their life until their illness can’t be ignored, an inflated sense of our own abilities can help us to pursue big and worthwhile goals, and not looking at our financial investments when markets are down may keep us from selling in a panic.”

The researchers believe understanding when, why, and how people avoid information can help governments, firms, and organizations reach their audiences effectively without drowning them in unwanted messages.