Information Avoidance
Updated 2026-07-31
INTRODUCTION
English translation pending.
CORE DEFINITION
Information avoidance is a documented behaviour in judgement and decision research. People deliberately forgo available information, such as medical test results or account balances, because learning the truth would produce anxiety, regret, or a sense of lost control. The avoidance is emotional rather than rational in the narrow sense: the cost of looking is low, yet anticipated pain outweighs the anticipated value of acting. It is the opposite of information seeking and is often called the ostrich effect.
SCAFFOLDING EFFECT
Reduce cognitive load
- Facing Facts: recognise the urge not to look and force yourself to open the file anyway. - Testing Value: ask what you could change if you knew, and act when the answer is something. - Lowering the Threshold: read a summary first so the shock is smaller and action can follow.
Anchor fast decisions
Anticipated negative emotion is itself aversive, so the mind treats not looking as relief. Because the relief is immediate and the cost is delayed, the trade feels favourable in the moment. The result is a stable short-term gain against a larger long-term loss, and the pattern repeats because the avoidance is never punished at the time it occurs.
MINIMUM ACTION
In progress 0/1Practice this model in one real situation:
account_treeGenealogyexpand_more
menu_bookReferencesexpand_more
Source support: Explicit
- cmu.eduhttps://www.cmu.edu/dietrich/news/news-stories/2017/information-avoidance.htmlverified
PRIVATE NOTES · Only visible to you
SAVED Q&A
ENTRY Q&A · Private saving available
Ask with a clear boundary
thinkingmodels answers from published entry context only.
Your question is sent to thinkingmodels. The answer uses public entry context only.
RELATED MODELS