Behavioral Obligation and Information Avoidance
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BRIEF REPORT
Behavioral Obligation and Information Avoidance Jennifer L. Howell, M.S. & James A. Shepperd, Ph.D.
Published online: 6 December 2012 # The Society of Behavioral Medicine 2012
Abstract Background Although knowledge can be powerful and bring a variety of important benefits, people often opt to remain ignorant. Purpose We propose that people are particularly inclined to remain ignorant when learning information could obligate undesirable behavior. Method In three studies, participants completed an online risk calculator and then learned that receiving high-risk feedback from the calculator would obligate them to engage in a behavior that was either highly undesirable (e.g., undergoing a cervical exam and taking medication for the rest of their life) or only slightly undesirable (e.g., having their cheek swabbed and taking medication for 2 weeks). We then offered participants the opportunity to receive risk feedback from the calculator. Results Across all studies, participants more often avoided feedback when it could obligate highly undesirable behavior compared with mildly undesirable behavior. Conclusion People decline learning their risk information more often when doing so obligates undesirable behavior in response. Keywords Information avoidance . Health . Decision making . Defensive processing . Autonomy
Behavioral Obligation and Information Avoidance Asking the typical person why he or she avoids some piece of information will likely yield a response that can be summarized in one word: fear. But what do people fear? A J. L. Howell (*) : J. A. Shepperd Department of Psychology, University of Florida, PO Box 112250, Gainesville, FL 32611-2250, USA e-mail: [email protected]
recent review proposed that people do not necessarily fear the information itself, but rather the cognitive, affective, and behavioral consequences of learning the information [1]. The present study focuses on how the behavioral consequences of information lead to avoidance. To this end, we focus on one possible motivation for avoidance: learning the information might obligate undesired action.
Autonomy Concerns We contend that people are motivated to avoid information that obligates undesired action at least in part because such information threatens a basic need for autonomy (i.e., the ability to determine one’s personal actions). People experience autonomy when they can select their behavior based on internal motivations (e.g., personal desires and values) rather than external motivations (e.g., guilt and obligation [2]). Information can threaten autonomy by obligating people to engage in a behavior that is not internally motivated. For example, a physician may tell a patient at high risk for diabetes to make diet changes such as giving up fried foods. The patient may perceive these changes as a threat to autonomy because they represent unwanted behaviors that are not internally motivated. Researchers have characterized gaining and sustaining autonomy as a fundamental human desire [3], as an intrinsically motivated goal
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