Information Avoidance and Image Concerns

A rich literature finds that individuals avoid information, even information is instrumental to their choices. common hypothesis posits strategically hold particular beliefs or take certain actions—such as behaving selfishly—with lower image costs. Building off of the classic “moral wiggle room” design, this paper provides first direct test whether because concerns. We do so by introducing a control condition makes minimal changes eliminate role concerns while keeping other key features decision environment unchanged. analyze data from 4,626 experimental subjects. find play in driving avoidance, but substantially smaller—less than half magnitude—than approach would suggest.