The Demand for, and Avoidance of, Information

Published Online:https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2021.4244

References

  • Alos-Ferrer C, Garcia-Segarra J, Ritschel A (2018) Performance curiosity. J. Econom. Psych. 64:1–17.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Andries M, Haddad V (2020) Information aversion. J. Political Econom. 128(5):1901–1939.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Asch D, Patton J, Hershey J (1990) Knowing for the sake of knowing: The value of prognostic information. Medical Decision Making 10(1):47–57.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Bénabou R (2013) Groupthink: Collective delusions in organizations and markets. Rev. Econom. Stud. 80(2):429–462.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Bénabou R, Tirole J (2002) Self-confidence and personal motivation. Quart. J. Econom. 117(3):871–915.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Berlyne DE (1954) A theory of human curiosity. British J. Psych. 45(3):180–191.Google Scholar
  • Blom JN, Hansen KR (2015) Click bait: Forward-reference as lure in online news headlines. J. Pragmatics 76:87–100.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Brunnermeier M, Parker J (2005) Optimal expectations. Amer. Econom. Rev. 95(4):1092–1118.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Burks S, Carpenter J, Goette L, Rustichini A (2013) Overconfidence and social signalling. Rev. Econom. Stud. 80(3):949–983.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Buyalskaya A, Camerer CF (2020) The neuroeconomics of epistemic curiosity. Current Opinion Behav. Sci. 35:141–149.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Cabrales A, Gossner O, Serrano R (2013) Entropy and the value of information for investors. Amer. Econom. Rev. 103(1):360–377.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Camerer C, Loewenstein G, Weber M (1989) The curse of knowledge in economic settings: An experimental analysis. J. Political Econom. 97(5):1232–1254.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Caplin A, Leahy J (2001) Psychological expected utility theory and anticipatory feelings. Quart. J. Econom. 116(1):55–79.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Charpentier CJ, Bromberg-Martin ES, Sharot T (2018) Valuation of knowledge and ignorance in mesolimbic reward circuitry. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 115(31):E7255–E7264.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Chater N, Loewenstein G (2015) The underappreciated drive for sense-making. J. Econom. Behav. Organ. 126:137–154.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Cover T, Thomas J (1991) Elements of Information Theory (Wiley, New York).CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Dana J, Weber R, Kuang J (2007) Exploiting moral wiggle room: Experiments demonstrating an illusory preference for fairness. Econom. Theory 33(1):67–80.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Davenport T, Beck J (2001) The Attention Economy: Understanding the New Currency of Business (Harvard Business School Press, Cambridge, MA).CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Dillenberger D (2010) Preferences for one-shot resolution of uncertainty and allais-type behavior. Econometrica 78(6):1973–2004.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Dubey R, Mehta H, Lombrozo T (2021) Curiosity is contagious: A social influence intervention to induce curiosity. Cognitive Sci. 45(2):e12937.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Eil D, Rao J (2011) The good news-bad news effect: Asymmetric processing of objective information about yourself. Amer. Econom. J. Microeconomics 3(2):114–138.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Eliaz K, Schotter A (2010) Paying for confidence: An experimental study of the demand for non-instrumental information. Games Econom. Behav. 70(2):304–324.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Eliaz K, Spiegler R (2006) Can anticipatory feelings explain anomalous choices of information sources? Games Econom. Behav. 56(1):87–104.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Ely J, Frankel A, Kamenica E (2015) Suspense and surprise. J. Political Econom. 123(1):215–260.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Falk A, Zimmermann F (2016) Beliefs and utility: Experimental evidence on preferences for information. Working Paper No. 6061, CESifo, Munich.Google Scholar
  • Faul F, Erdfelder E, Buchner A, Lang A-G (2009) Statistical power analyses using G*Power 3.1: Tests for correlation and regression analyses. Behav. Res. Methods 41(4):1149–1160.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Gabaix X, Laibson D, Moloche G, Weinberg S (2006) Costly information acquisition: Experimental analysis of a boundedly rational model. Amer. Econom. Rev. 96(4):1043–1068.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Ganguly A, Tasoff J (2016) Fantasy and dread: The demand for information and the consumption utility of the future. Management Sci. 63(12):4037–4060.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Gigerenzer G, Garcia-Retamero R (2017) Cassandra’s regret: The psychology of not wanting to know. Psych. Rev. 124(2):179–196.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Golman R, Loewenstein G (2018a) Information gaps: A theory of preferences regarding the presence and absence of information. Decision 5(3):143–164.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Golman R, Loewenstein G (2018b) The desire for knowledge and wisdom. Gordon G, ed. The New Science of Curiosity (Nova, Hauppauge, NY), 37–42.Google Scholar
  • Golman R, Gurney N, Loewenstein G (2021) Information gaps for risk and ambiguity. Psych. Rev. 128(1):86–103.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Golman R, Hagmann D, Loewenstein G (2017) Information avoidance. J. Econom. Literature 55(1):96–135.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Gottlieb J, Hayhoe M, Hikosaka O, Rangel A (2014) Attention, reward, and information seeking. J. Neuroscience 34(46):15497–15504.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Gottlieb J, Oudeyer PY, Lopes M, Baranes A (2013) Information seeking, curiosity and attention: Computational and empirical mechanisms. Trends Cognitive Sci. 17(11):585–593.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Grant S, Kajii A, Polak B (1998) Intrinsic preference for information. J. Econom. Theory 83(2):233–259.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Hertwig R, Engel C (2016) Homo ignorans: Deliberately choosing not to know. Perspect. Psych. Sci. 11(3):359–372.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Hertwig R, Engel C (2020) Deliberate Ignorance (MIT Press, Cambridge, MA).Google Scholar
  • Hirsh J, Inzlicht M (2008) The devil you know: Neuroticism predicts neural response to uncertainty. Psych. Sci. 19(10):962–967.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Hirshleifer J, Riley J (1979) The analytics of uncertainty and information—an expository survey. J. Econom. Literature 17(4):1375–1421.Google Scholar
  • Ho E, Hagmann D, Loewenstein G (2021) Measuring information preferences. Management Sci. 67(1):126–145.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Hoffman M (2016) How is information (under-) valued? Evidence from framed field experiments. Econom. J. 126(595):1884–1911.Google Scholar
  • Hsee CK, Ruan B (2016) The pandora effect: The power and peril of curiosity. Psych. Sci. 27(5):659–666.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Kahneman D (1973) Attention and Effort (Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ).Google Scholar
  • Kang MJ, Hsu M, Krajbich I, Loewenstein G, McClure S, Wang J, Camerer C (2009) The wick in the candle of learning: Epistemic curiosity activates reward circuitry and enhances memory. Psych. Sci. 20(8):963–973.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Karlsson N, Loewenstein G, Seppi D (2009) The ostrich effect: Selective attention to information. J. Risk Uncertainity 38(2):95–115.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Kidd C, Hayden B (2015) The psychology and neuroscience of curiosity. Neuron 88(3):449–460.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Kőszegi B (2006) Ego utility, overconfidence, and task choice. J. Eur. Econom. Assoc. 4(4):673–707.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Kőszegi B (2010) Utility from anticipation and personal equilibrium. Econom. Theory 44(3):415–444.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Kreps D, Porteus E (1978) Temporal resolution of uncertainty and dynamic choice theory. Econometrica 46(1):185–200.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Kruger J, Evans M (2009) The paradox of alypius and the pursuit of unwanted information. J. Experiment. Soc. Psych. 45(6):1173–1179.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Kupor D, Tormala Z (2015) Persuasion, interrupted: The effect of momentary interruptions on message processing and persuasion. J. Consumer Res. 42(2):300–315.Google Scholar
  • Langner O, Dotsch R, Bijlstra G, Wigboldus DHJ, Hawk ST, van Knippenberg A (2010) Presentation and validation of the Radboud Faces Database. Cognition Emotion 24(8):1377–1388.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Law E, Yin M, Goh J, Chen K, Terry MA, Gajos KZ (2016) Curiosity killed the cat, but makes crowdwork better. Proc. 2016 CHI Conf. Human Factors Comput. Systems (ACM, San Jose, CA), 4098–4110.Google Scholar
  • Liquin EG, Lombrozo T (2020) A functional approach to explanation-seeking curiosity. Cognitive Psych. 119:101276.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Loewenstein G (1994) The psychology of curiosity: A review and reinterpretation. Psych. Bull. 116(1):75–98.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Loewenstein G, Sunstein CR, Golman R (2014) Disclosure: Psychology changes everything. Annual Rev. Econom. 6:391–419.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Lucey P, Cohn JF, Kanade T, Saragih J, Ambadar Z, Matthews I (2010) The Extended Cohn-Kanade Data Set (CK+): A complete data set for action unit and emotion-specified expression. 2010 IEEE Comput. Soc. Conf. Comput. Vision Pattern Recognition Workshops, 94–101.Google Scholar
  • Ma DS, Correll J, Wittenbrink B (2015) The Chicago face database: A free stimulus set of faces and norming data. Behav. Res. Methods 47(4):1122–1135.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Möbius M, Niederle M, Niehaus P, Rosenblat T (2022) Managing self-confidence: Theory and experimental evidence. Management Sci. Forthcoming.Google Scholar
  • Olafsson A, Pagel M (2017) The ostrich in us: Selective attention to financial accounts, income, spending, and liquidity. NBER Working Paper No. 23945, National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge, MA.Google Scholar
  • Oster E, Shoulson I, Dorsey ER (2013) Optimal expectations and limited medical testing: Evidence from Huntington disease. Amer. Econom. Rev. 103(2):804–830.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Pagel M (2018) A news-utility theory for inattention and delegation in portfolio choice. Econometrica 86(2):491–522.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Picone G, Sloan F, Taylor D (2004) Effects of risk and time preference and expected longevity on demand for medical tests. J. Risk Uncertainity 28(1):39–53.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Ruan B, Hsee CK, Lu ZY (2018) The teasing effect: An underappreciated benefit of creating and resolving an uncertainty. J. Marketing Res. 55(4):556–570.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Shannon C (1948) A mathematical theory of communication. Bell System Tech. J. 27(3):379–423.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Sharot T, Sunstein CR (2020) How people decide what they want to know. Nature Human Behav. 4(1):14–19.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Sicherman N, Loewenstein G, Seppi D, Utkus S (2015) Financial attention. Rev. Financial Stud. 29(4):863–897.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Simon HA (1971) Designing Organizations for an Information-Rich World (Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, MD).Google Scholar
  • Smith DM, Loewenstein G, Jankovich A, Ubel PA (2009) Happily hopeless: Adaptation to a permanent, but not to a temporary, disability. Health Psych. 28(6):787–791.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Stigler G (1961) The economics of information. J. Political Econom. 69(3):213–225.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Thornton R (2008) The demand for, and impact of, learning HIV status. Amer. Econom. Rev. 98(5):1829–1863.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • van Dijk E, Zeelenberg M (2007) When curiosity killed regret: Avoiding or seeking the unknown in decision-making under uncertainty. J. Experiment. Soc. Psych. 43(4):656–662.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Venneti L, Alam A (2018) How curiosity can be modeled for a clickbait detector. Preprint, submitted June 11, https://arxiv.org/abs/1806.04212v1.Google Scholar
  • Vogl E, Pekrun R, Murayama K, Loderer K (2020) Surprised-curious-confused: Epistemic emotions and knowledge exploration. Emotion 20(4):625–641.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Wakker P (1988) Nonexpected utility as aversion of information. J. Behav. Decision Making 1(3):169–175.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Wilson T, Centerbar D, Kermer D, Gilbert D (2005) The pleasures of uncertainty: Prolonging positive moods in ways people do not anticipate. J. Personality Soc. Psych. 88(1):5–21.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Woolley K, Risen JL (2018) Closing your eyes to follow your heart: Avoiding information to protect a strong intuitive preference. J. Personality Soc. Psych. 114(2):230–245.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Wright S, Clarkson J, Kardes F (2018) Circumventing resistance to novel information: Piquing curiosity through strategic information revelation. J. Experiment. Soc. Psych. 76:81–87.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
INFORMS site uses cookies to store information on your computer. Some are essential to make our site work; Others help us improve the user experience. By using this site, you consent to the placement of these cookies. Please read our Privacy Statement to learn more.