%0 Generic
%A Balietti, Anca
%A Budjan, Angelika
%A Eymess, Tillmann
%A Soldà, Alice
%C Heidelberg
%D 2023
%F heidok:33841
%K information avoidance; information recall; perceived control;  motivated cognition; air pollution
%R 10.11588/heidok.00033841
%T Strategic Ignorance and Perceived Control
%U https://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/volltextserver/33841/
%V 0735
%X Information can trigger unpleasant emotions. As a result, individuals might be tempted to strategically 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 were later asked to recall it. Perceived control leads to a substantial improvement in information recall. We find that optimists react most to perceived control, both with a reduction in information avoidance and an increase in information recall. This latter result is supported by a US sample. A theoretical framework rationalizes our findings.