Exley Christine L, Kessler Judd B
University of Michigan, USA.
University of Pennsylvania, USA.
Econ J (London). 2023 Aug 9;133(656):3153-3168. doi: 10.1093/ej/uead058. eCollection 2023 Nov.
A rich literature finds that individuals avoid information and suggests that avoidance is driven by image concerns. This paper provides the first direct test of whether individuals avoid information image concerns. We build on a classic paradigm, introducing control conditions that make minimal changes to eliminate the role of image concerns while keeping other key features of the environment unchanged. Data from 6,421 experimental subjects shows that image concerns play a role in driving information avoidance, but a role that is substantially smaller than one might have expected.
丰富的文献表明，个体回避信息，且这种回避是由形象担忧驱动的。本文首次直接检验了个体是否因形象担忧而回避信息。我们以一个经典范式为基础，引入控制条件，在保持环境其他关键特征不变的情况下，进行最小程度的改变以消除形象担忧的影响。来自6421名实验对象的数据表明，形象担忧在驱动信息回避方面发挥了作用，但其作用比人们预期的要小得多。
