Age differences in deliberate ignorance.

People sometimes choose to remain ignorant, even when information comes at low marginal costs and promises high utility. To investigate whether older adults enlist deliberate ignorance more than younger adults, potentially as an emotion-regulation tool, we presented a representative sample of 1,910 residents Germany with 13 scenarios in which knowledge could result substantial gains or losses. The strongest correlate was indeed age. Openness experience negatively correlated ignorance; risk preference did not neuroticism consistently predict it. Findings suggest possible positivity effect the decision access new but ambiguous information. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).