Information Avoidance In Social Decision-making

Classical economics and decision theory believe that information is useful in most situations.Because it can help people make "better decisions".However,in some cases,people adopt an information avoidance strategy and are unwilling to obtain information related to decision-making.This paper studies the influence of information avoidance on social decision-making through dictator game and explores the psychological mechanism of information avoidance under the conflict of altruistic and selfish choices.The study includes two experiments.In experiment one,the psychological mechanism of information avoidance in decision-making was investigated by setting up fuzzy interests of others.The results show that: compared with information seeking,subjects who avoid information are more inclined to make self-serving distribution choices in decision-making;Information orientation and scheme type have interactive effects.Scheme type has different effects on subjects seeking information and avoiding information,and subjects seeking information are more sensitive to scheme type.Experiment 2 adopts fuzzy self-interest setting.Compared with information seeking,subjects who avoid information are more inclined to altruistic allocation in decision-making.Information orientation interacts with the generation of allocation scheme types.Scheme types have different effects on subjects seeking information and avoiding information,and subjects avoiding information are more sensitive to scheme types.This study draws the following conclusions:(1)People will choose information avoidance behavior in decision-making,and information avoidance will affect participants' choices in social decision-making.(2)In different situations,the purpose of information avoidance may be different.The subjects may avoid information for thesake of personal interests and "better self-interest";It's also possible to resist the temptation of self-interest and "better altruism".