Information wants to be free!
But if that free information is a calorie count for my favorite donut, then lock it
up! Lock it up!
You know what i mean?
We are living in the ultimate age of information … you’re watching this video because you
have access to an awesome portal of collective knowledge called the internet.
And having more information can often help us make better choices.
Which is all well and good except for the fact that humans are not always information
seekers.
Sometimes we even avoid information that could help us!
For instance, you probably have an idea about how much money you’ve spent lately, but
you might avoid actually looking at your bank account so you don’t see the exact amounts
you splurged on a new purse.The information is riiight there, but you just don’t want
to know.
And not knowing might have consequences.
This psychological phenomenon is called “active information avoidance.”
You’re actively avoiding information when these three things happen: you know the information
exists, it could be costly to avoid, but you still go out of your way to ignore it.
A recent paper from Carnegie Mellon University found that people have a wide variety of strategies
to avoid information and they do it to protect themselves...And this seems like a no-brainer,
people avoid information that might be painful to receive.
We don’t want to know how many calories are in that hot fudge sundae because we want
it and it looks amazing.
We don’t want to know it’s 1,000 calories because knowing that number might deter us
from having it.
Might.
Avoiding the calorie counts in a dessert happens, we all do it because we need to live a little
... but what are the consequences of avoiding something more serious… like medical issues?
Another study looked at people who were at risk for Huntington's Disease, a fatal brain
disorder, and found that a large fraction of people avoided getting tested.
Carnegie Mellon researchers called this: an optimism bubble.
Basically, people won’t get tested because they want to live their lives without fear
or consequence; they don't want their bubble bursted.
This is why people don’t get tested for cancer, why people don’t follow the news
-- they want to live in a optimism bubble!
But… living there isn’t living in reality -- think about sexually transmitted infections.
If i’m living in my optimism bubble, I could be infecting others.
And speaking of bubbles -- this extends to how we reinterpret information that counters
our beliefs.
For example, there’s a growing body of scientific research that is widely available disproving
the link between vaccines and autism.
And yet, a bunch of unscientific websites linking the two are cited by people who already
believe vaccines cause autism.So even if the data is right there, it will be discounted
if it goes against what people want to believe.
Active Information Avoidance is a psychological protection strategy because we’ve spent
months or years building brain pathways and patterns of behavior around our worldview.
Changing those pathways takes energy and work -- it causes stress, and uncertainty!
Avoiding it is so much easier (though not necessarily better).
So what should we do about this?
How do we break out of being active information avoiders?
Well, according to the researchers at Carnegie Mellon, if you want to change someone’s
mind make a personal relationship with them first!
If you form a meaningful relationship with a friend you could maybe remind them to get their prostate checked
for cancer, or breast cancer checks. You could remind them to keep tabs on their finances
Or, maybe not to eat that sundae.
If you know you’re avoiding information -- maybe try and work a little hard to, well,
not.
For example, you might try and avoid information about why New York has the best bagels.
Water?
Location?
Tradition?
It’s a debate.
I LOVE bagels.Thrillist just launched a brand new show Food/Groups.
My buddy Dave hits up a cast of food experts as they hunt down a dish that’s authentically
tied to a different neighborhood, nationality, or lifestyle.
Check out his bagel adventure here I love Essa, that place.
Omg.
But let’s say you’re in an argument, and you want to convince your friend you’re
right -- science has the best way to do that!
In this video over here.
What information do you definitely avoid?
Let us know in the comments and subscribe to Seeker for more videos.