Science AMA Series: We're George Loewenstein, Russell Golman, and David Hagmann, three behavioral economists studying why people sometimes avoid information they know to be useful. AUA!

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Hi Reddit! George and Russell are professors in the Department of Social & Decision Sciences at Carnegie Mellon University and David is a graduate student in the department. We just published a review paper in the Journal of Economic Literature in which we look at what we term "active information avoidance."

Given all the information out there in the world, it makes sense that people cannot absorb all of it. As economists, we would expect them to pay attention to the information that most likely improves the decisions they make, while ignoring information that is unlikely to be useful. Indeed, since the seminal paper on information as a scarce resource by George Stigler in 1961, economists have thought of information as useful to the extent (and only to the extent) that it improves decision making. In our review, we argue that this is one of the most unrealistic and most consequential assumptions in economics, and draw on findings from nearly 200 papers in economics, psychology, and other fields to make our case.

We explore reasons for why people avoid information and the strategies they employ in doing so. Someone dieting, for example, may avoid information about the number of calories in a dessert because they want to eat it and not feel guilty about it. Even when information cannot be physically avoided, people can choose to interpret it in a biased way: they give weight to evidence that confirms what they wish to be true and dismiss evidence that challenges it. Such avoidance has far-reaching implications, including as a driver of political polarization and inaction on climate change.

Want to participate in our research? We're always looking for participants and are happy to share our findings once projects wrap up! To participate in one of our current studies, head to: http://www.bit.ly/decisionresearch

Want to learn more about this research? Our interview with the American Economic Association is available here: http://ift.tt/2mdgGnH

CMU has set up a website with relevant links here: http://ift.tt/2nROYjq

And you can read the full paper here: http://ift.tt/2maxETO (The paper is not gated.)

George Loewenstein I am the Herbert A. Simon Professor of Economics and Psychology at CMU, a past president of the Society for Judgment and Decision Making, and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. My interests include decision making over time, psychology and health, law and economics, the role of emotion in decision making, the psychology of curiosity, conflict of interest, privacy, various aspects of sex, unethical behavior, and issues involving research ethics. AMA!

Russell Golman I am an Assistant Professor in Social and Decision Sciences and the director of the quantitative social science scholars program at CMU. My current research projects have me thinking about how uncertainty may be exciting or uncomfortable, how fads emerge, and how curiosity arises. I believe that we can explain choices by acknowledging that individual agents may learn or make mistakes and may have motivations beyond their material payoffs. My wife is also due with my second child, so there is a chance I may suddenly disappear -- but until then, AMA!

We'll be back at 1 pm EST to answer your questions. AUA!

">Science AMA Series: We're George Loewenstein, Russell Golman, and David Hagmann, three behavioral economists studying why people sometimes avoid information they know to be useful. AUA!