WASHINGTON — Ignorance really is bliss for some individuals. A concerning new study shows the lengths people go to justify their selfish behavior. Researchers working with the American Psychological Association found that 40 percent deliberately choose ignorance when presented with the opportunity to learn how their actions impact others.
This tendency is often driven by a desire to rationalize selfish behavior.
“Examples of such willful ignorance abound in everyday life, such as when consumers ignore information about the problematic origins of the products they buy,” says study lead author Linh Vu, a doctoral candidate at the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands, in a media release. “We wanted to know just how prevalent and how harmful willful ignorance is, as well as why people engage in it.”
The study, which is the result of a meta-analysis of 22 research studies involving 6,531 participants, aimed to explore the extent of willful ignorance and its repercussions. Most of these studies were conducted in research laboratories or online, with participants presented with choices that had consequences for others, and some given the option to learn about these consequences.
In one experiment, participants had to choose between receiving a smaller reward of $5, with an anonymous peer or charity also receiving $5, or a larger reward of $6, in which the other recipient would only get $1. Some participants were allowed to learn the consequences of their choices, while others were automatically informed.
Across the studies, it was found that when given the option, 40 percent of participants opted not to learn the consequences of their actions. Notably, this deliberate ignorance was closely linked to reduced altruism, with individuals being 15.6 percentage points more likely to act generously towards others when they were informed of the consequences of their choices.
The researchers theorized that some individuals may engage in willful ignorance to maintain a positive self-image of being altruistic, allowing them to uphold this self-image without necessarily acting altruistically. This hypothesis was supported by the findings, which showed that those who chose to learn the consequences of their actions were seven percentage points more likely to display generosity compared to those who received information by default. This suggests that truly altruistic individuals are more inclined to seek out information about the impact of their actions.
“The findings are fascinating as they suggest a lot of the altruistic behaviors we observe are driven by a desire to behave as others expect us to,” says study co-author Dr. Shaul Shalvi, a professor of behavioral ethics at the University of Amsterdam. “While most people are willing to do the right thing when they are fully informed of the consequences of their actions, this willingness is not always because people care for others. A part of the reasons why people act altruistically is due to societal pressures as well as their desire to view themselves in a good light. Since being righteous is often costly, demanding people to give up their time, money and effort, ignorance offers an easy way out.”
All the studies included in this meta-analysis were conducted in labs in the United States or Western Europe, or on online platforms such as Amazon Mechanical Turk. Researchers have suggested that future research should aim to examine willful ignorance in more diverse settings and explore strategies to address and combat this behavior.
The study is published in the journal Psychological Bulletin.
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