Information Avoidance: Who, What, When, and Why

Abstract

Although acquiring information can provide numerous benefits, people often opt to remain ignorant. We define information avoidance as any behavior designed to prevent or delay the acquisition of available but potentially unwanted information. We review the various literatures that examine information avoidance and provide a unique framework to integrate the contributions of these disparate areas of research. We first define information avoidance and distinguish it from related phenomena. We then discuss the motivations that prompt information avoidance and the factors that moderate the likelihood of avoidance. Finally, we discuss individual differences that predict preferences for information avoidance. We conclude by evaluating the current state of research on information avoidance and discussing directions for future research.

Spirituality is associated with better prostate cancer treatment decision making experiences

“…Both should increase the likelihood of engaging in decision-making behaviors such as information-seeking, deliberating over benefits and drawbacks of options, clarifying personal values, and ultimately enacting the decision (Gall, 2004;Jenkins & Pargament, 1995). Positive appraisals may also reduce anxiety, an additional barrier to engaging in decision-making behaviors (Swainston et al, 2011;Sweeny et al, 2010). Spirituality as a meaning-making resource has been described as a system of motivational, affective, and cognitive components for making meaning in life (Park, 2007) and may be the ultimate outcome of spiritual coping (Gall et al, 2005).…”

Threat and Defense

“…For example, after mortality salience, people bias their selfdescriptions to appear less liable to die young (Greenberg, Arndt, Simon, Pyszczynski, & Solomon, 2000). Similarly, control threats heighten the denial of randomness and chance in participants' lives (Kay et al, 2008; Study 2), and health threats promote avoidance of medical risk information (Sweeny, Melnyk, Miller, & Shepperd, 2010). Evidence that such proximal reactions are avoidance-motivated comes from studies showing that relationship threats decrease response latencies when identifying avoidancerelated compared to approach-related words (Cavallo, Fitzsimons, & Holmes, 2010), and that subliminal death primes reduce gaze duration toward pictures of physical injury but not neutral pictures (Hirschberger, Ein-Dor, Caspi, Arzouan, & Zivotfsky, 2010).…”

Social exclusion, self-affirmation, and health information avoidance

“…Information avoidance is any behavior designed to prevent oneself from learning available information (Sweeny, Melnyk, Miller, & Shepperd, 2010). Information avoidance represents a defensive response (McQueen, Vernon, & Swank, 2013), aimed at protecting how people wish to think, feel, or behave (Howell, Lipsey, & Shepperd, in press;.…”