Information avoidance
Information avoidance is the active effort to avoid or delay accessible, yet conflicting information to one's own beliefs.This concept is similar to confirmation bias, where an individual biases the interpretation of information in effort to support existing views. A common example of information avoidance is people's aversion to receiving their medical test results.
Relevant Academic Papers
- Golman, R., Hagmann, D., & Loewenstein, G. (2017). Information avoidance. Journal of Economic Literature, 55(1), 96-135.
- Sullivan, P. S., Lansky, A., & Drake, A. (2004). Failure to return for HIV test results among persons at high risk for HIV infection: Results from a multistate interview project. JAIDS Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes, 35(5), 511–518.
