We commonly think of information as a means to an end. However, a growing theoretical and experimental literature suggests that information may directly enter the agent’s utility function – a phenomenon known as “belief-based utility.” This can create an incentive to avoid information, even when it is useful, free, and independent of strategic considerations. In this talk, I will review research on a variety of topics related to belief-based utility: curiosity, privacy, the desire to reveal information and, in greatest depth, information avoidance. Information avoidance undoubtedly serves important functions for individuals, but can have negative social consequences, including contributing to political polarization, intolerance and intergroup conflict.
Speaker:
George Loewenstein
Herbert A. Simon Professor of Economics and Psychology
Carnegie Mellon University
George Loewenstein is the Herbert A. Simon University Professor of Economics and Psychology at Carnegie Mellon University. He is a co-director of the Center for Behavioral Decision Research at CMU, and the Director of Behavioral Economics at the Center for Health Incentives at the Leonard Davis Institute of the University of Pennsylvania. His research focuses on applications of psychology to economics, and specific interests include decision making over time, bargaining and negotiations, psychology and health, law and economics, the psychology of adaptation, the role of emotion in decision making, the psychology of curiosity, conflict of interest, various aspects of sex, unethical behavior, and issues involving research ethics. He helped to found the field of behavioral economics, the field of neuroeconomics, and was one of the early proponents of a new approach to public policy called, variously, ‘asymmetric’ or ‘libertarian’ paternalism. Dr. Loewenstein received his PhD from Yale University in 1985. He has held academic positions at The University of Chicago and Carnegie Mellon University, fellowships at several institutions including Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences and the London School of Economics, and is the past president of the Society for Judgment and Decision Making. He has received numerous grants and awards from government agencies and foundations, and is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He has also published extensively in the fields of economics, psychology, law, medicine and others, and has served on the editorial boards of numerous journals in different fields.