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Measuring Information Preferences

Author

Listed:
  • Emily H. Ho

    (Department of Psychology, Fordham University, Bronx, New York 10458; Department of Medical Social Sciences, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois 60611;)

  • David Hagmann

    (Harvard Kennedy School, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138; Department of Social and Decision Sciences, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213)

  • George Loewenstein

    (Department of Social and Decision Sciences, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213)

Abstract

Advances in medical testing and widespread access to the internet have made it easier than ever to obtain information. Yet, when it comes to some of the most important decisions in life, people often choose to remain ignorant for a variety of psychological and economic reasons. We design and validate an information preferences scale to measure an individual’s desire to obtain or avoid information that may be unpleasant but could improve future decisions. The scale measures information preferences in three domains that are psychologically and materially consequential: consumer finance, personal characteristics, and health. In three studies incorporating responses from over 2,300 individuals, we present tests of the scale’s reliability and validity. We show that the scale predicts a real decision to obtain (or avoid) information in each of the domains as well as decisions from out-of-sample, unrelated domains. Across settings, many respondents prefer to remain in a state of active ignorance even when information is freely available. Moreover, we find that information preferences are a stable trait but that an individual’s preference for information can differ across domains.

Suggested Citation

  • Emily H. Ho & David Hagmann & George Loewenstein, 2021. "Measuring Information Preferences," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(1), pages 126-145, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:ormnsc:v:67:y:2021:i:1:p:126-145
    DOI: 10.1287/mnsc.2019.3543
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Charlotte Cordes & Jana Friedrichsen & Simeon Schudy, 2023. "Motivated Procrastination," Rationality and Competition Discussion Paper Series 471, CRC TRR 190 Rationality and Competition.
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    3. Battocletti, Vittoria & Desiato, Alfredo & Romano, Alessandro & Sotis, Chiara & Tröger, Tobias, 2025. "Climate pledges and greenwashing: Information provision does not work," LawFin Working Paper Series 57, Goethe University, Center for Advanced Studies on the Foundations of Law and Finance (LawFin).
    4. Fast, Victoria & Sachs, Nikolai & Schnurr, Daniel, 2021. "Privacy Decision-Making in Digital Markets: Eliciting Individuals' Preferences for Transparency," 23rd ITS Biennial Conference, Online Conference / Gothenburg 2021. Digital societies and industrial transformations: Policies, markets, and technologies in a post-Covid world 238020, International Telecommunications Society (ITS).
    5. Russell Golman & George Loewenstein & Andras Molnar & Silvia Saccardo, 2022. "The Demand for, and Avoidance of, Information," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(9), pages 6454-6476, September.
    6. Chadi, Adrian & Homolka, Konstantin, 2022. "Little Lies and Blind Eyes – Experimental Evidence on Cheating and Task Performance in Work Groups," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 199(C), pages 122-159.
    7. Espinosa, Romain & Arpinon, Thibaut & Maginot, Paco & Demange, Sébastien & Peureux, Florimond, 2024. "Removing barriers to plant-based diets: Assisting doctors with vegan patients," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    8. Romain Espinosa & Thibaut Arpinon & Paco Maginot & Sébastien Demange & Florimond Peureux, 2024. "Removing barriers to plant-based diets: assisting doctors with vegan patients," Post-Print hal-04479493, HAL.
    9. Barrafrem, Kinga & Västfjäll, Daniel & Tinghög, Gustav, 2024. "Financial Homo Ignorans: Development and validation of a scale to measure individual differences in financial information ignorance," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 42(C).
    10. Horn, Samantha & Litovsky, Yana & Loewenstein, George, 2024. "Using curiosity to counter health information avoidance," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 340(C).
    11. Lohmann, Paul M. & Gsottbauer, Elisabeth & Doherty, Anya & Kontoleon, Andreas, 2022. "Do carbon footprint labels promote climatarian diets? Evidence from a large-scale field experiment," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).
    12. Battocletti, Vittoria & Desiato, Alfredo & Romano, Alessandro & Sotis, Chiara & Tröger, Tobias, 2025. "Climate pledges and greenwashing: Information provision does not work," SAFE Working Paper Series 447, Leibniz Institute for Financial Research SAFE.
    13. Kops, Christopher & Pasichnichenko, Illia, 2023. "Testing negative value of information and ambiguity aversion," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 213(C).
    14. Konstantin Offer & Dorothee Mischkowski & Zoe Rahwan & Christoph Engel, 2024. "Deliberately Ignoring Unfairness: Responses to Uncertain Inequality in the Ultimatum Game," Discussion Paper Series of the Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods 2024_06, Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods.
    15. Rehse, Dominik & Tremöhlen, Felix, 2022. "Fostering participation in digital contact tracing," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).

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