We like to think that we are frank with information: we want answers when they are useful and avoid them when they are not. In reality, our relationship with knowledge is much more complex and is shaped by both emotion and reason.
Published in Modern opinion in psychologyThe new findings challenge the common belief that information avoidance, often described as “deliberate ignorance,” is primarily associated with avoidance of responsibility. On the contrary, research shows that information avoidance and painful fact seeking stem from the same emotional process.
According to researchers, people manage information by weighing two competing discomforts: the stress of uncertainty and the emotional impact of knowledge. What is easier to bear in the moment often determines whether people turn toward or away from information.
“Our decisions about information—to confront it or avoid it—are not only functional, but often emotional as well. We constantly switch between the desire to know and the instinct to protect ourselves from information, weighing whether painful truth or uncertainty will cause less pain,” the researchers said in their study. press release.
How people decide when to know and when to look away.
To explain why People sometimes avoid information and sometimes actively seek it, researchers propose a simple decision-making model based on emotional tolerance. At any given moment, people seem to be weighing two internal limits: how much uncertainty they can tolerate and how much emotional impact they can withstand if they learn the truth.
When uncertainty becomes emotionally draining, people are more likely to look for information – even if this information hurts or cannot change the outcome. In contrast, when the expected emotional burden of knowledge becomes more difficult to bear, people tend to delay or avoid learning it, even though the information may be useful. In both cases, behavior serves the same purpose: regulating emotional tension by choosing the form of discomfort that seems more manageable at the moment.
The model also helps explain why information behavior can change so quickly depending on context. The same person may avoid information in one situation and pursue it in another, not because his values or goals have changed, but because his emotional abilities have changed. Factors such as stress, time, and perceived stakes can tip the balance toward uncertainty or toward truth.
From this perspective, information avoidance and information seeking are not opposing tendencies or signs of inconsistency. These are flexible reactions generated by the same emotional mechanism, which constantly balances the fear of knowledge and the discomfort of not knowing.
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Two psychological tools for living in conditions of uncertainty
The results show that our relationship with information is determined less by curiosity or avoidance and more by emotional self-control. The desire to know and the desire not to know are not opposing forces, say researchers, but two psychological tools that people use to cope with threatening or overwhelming situations.
This perspective has practical implications. In areas such as health care, public communication, and institutional decision-making, how and when information is provided can be as important as what is shared. Access to facts does not in itself determine people's reactions; emotional readiness plays a decisive role.
In an age when information is almost always available, the study is a reminder that knowledge is not just something we accumulate. It is something we actively choose—by weighing which discomfort feels more tolerable in the moment: facing the truth or living in uncertainty.
Read more: Gaslighters take over the learning process by making their victims doubt themselves.
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