eprintid: 33733
rev_number: 18
eprint_status: archive
userid: 3114
dir: disk0/00/03/37/33
datestamp: 2023-08-18 14:04:02
lastmod: 2023-09-22 13:32:50
status_changed: 2023-08-18 14:04:02
type: workingPaper
metadata_visibility: no_search
creators_name: Balietti, Anca
creators_name: Budjan, Angelika
creators_name: Eymess, Tillmann
creators_name: Soldà, Alice
title: Strategic Ignorance and Perceived Control
subjects: ddc-330
divisions: i-181000
keywords: air pollution, information avoidance, information retention, perceived control, motivated cognition
cterms_swd: Luftverschmutzung
abstract: Information can trigger unpleasant emotions. As a result, individuals might be tempted to willfully ignore it. We experimentally investigate whether increasing perceived control can mitigate strategic ignorance. Participants from India were presented with a choice to receive information about the health risk associated with air pollution and later asked to recall it. We find that perceived control leads to a substantial improvement in information retention. Moreover, perceived control mostly benefits optimists, who show both a reduction in information avoidance and an increase in information retention. This latter result is confirmed with a US sample. A theoretical framework rationalizes these findings.
date: 2023-08
id_scheme: DOI
id_number: 10.11588/heidok.00033733
schriftenreihe_cluster_id: sr-3
schriftenreihe_order: 0730
ppn_swb: 1857903692
own_urn: urn:nbn:de:bsz:16-heidok-337330
language: eng
bibsort: BALIETTIANSTRATEGICI20230804
full_text_status: public
series: Discussion Paper Series / University of Heidelberg, Department of Economics
volume: 0730
place_of_pub: Heidelberg
pages: 55
citation:   Balietti, Anca ; Budjan, Angelika ; Eymess, Tillmann ; Soldà, Alice  (2023) Strategic Ignorance and Perceived Control.  [Working paper]     
document_url: https://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/volltextserver/33733/7/Balietti_et_al._2023_dp730.pdf