George Loewenstein Talks ‘Information Avoidance’ and Bad Decisions

Source: Devex, November 23, 2016 CHIBE’s George Loewenstein was interviewed by global development media platform, Devex, on his research on information avoidance, wherein individuals choose not to know information even though it is free and could improve their decision-making. Loewenstein describes how information avoidance can explain poor choices, and how this knowledge can be used to inform development policy. Information avoidance can also offer insight into increasingly polarized views on science. Loewenstein told Devex that “as science develops and new forms of data and data analysis capabilities emerge, you might think this would lead to convergence about scientific issues, but it’s not happening. If anything, the opposite is true.”