The homo ignorans: Deliberating choosing not to know
IMC Talk by Ralph Hertwig, Max Planck Institute for Human Development
Info about event
Time
Location
IMC Meeting Room, Building 1483-312
Western history of thought abounds with claims that knowledge is valued and sought. Yet people often choose not to know. We call the conscious choice not to seek or use knowledge (or information) deliberate ignorance. Using examples from a wide range of domains, we demonstrate that deliberate ignorance has important functions. We systematize types of deliberate ignorance, describe their functions, discuss their normative desirability, and consider how they can be modeled. To date, psychologists have paid relatively little attention to the study of ignorance, let alone the deliberate kind. Yet the desire not to know is no anomaly. It is a choice to seek rather than reduce uncertainty whose reasons require nuanced cognitive and economic theories and whose consequences—for the individual and for society—require analyses of both actor and environment.
Ralph Hertwig
Managing Director
Max Planck Institute for Human Development
Director
https://www.mpib-berlin.mpg.de/en/staff/ralph-hertwig