Becoming an Ostrich: The Development of Information Avoidance

Abstract

Adults selectively avoid useful information. We examined the development of information avoidance in 5- to 10-year-old American children (N = 320). In Experiment 1, children considered scenarios that might elicit information avoidance: protecting against negative emotions, maintaining perceptions of likeability and competence, preserving beliefs and preferences, and acting in self-interest. When a motivation for avoidance was present, children were more likely to avoid learning information, particularly with age. Experiment 2 presented the self-interest scenario (a moral “wiggle room” task) involving real payoffs. Although children could reveal their partner’s payoff without cost, older children capitalized on moral “wiggle room” by avoiding this information and choosing the self-interested payoff. In Experiment 3, we considered conditions under which even young children might avoid information, finding that they too avoided information when explicitly encouraged to protect their emotions. Additional qualitative findings probed children’s open-ended responses about why people seek and avoid information. Together, these experiments document the origins of information avoidance.