Rational Ignorance: What It Is And How It Can Help Us
Decision making could be said to be a psychological capacity that allows people to choose the most appropriate option among those available, mentally anticipating the possible long-term consequences of each of them and foreseeing the possible advantages of each. a.
However, we do not always take the most beneficial option in the long term and sometimes we are guided by mental heuristics, as is the case of rational ignorance, which is defined as a term that allows us to designate those situations in which an individual deduces that the costs of acquiring new knowledge outweigh the advantages that the fact of having consolidated that new learning could bring.
In this article We will see what the concept of rational ignorance consists of and for this we will present some everyday examples that can illustrate it, as well as some contexts in which said concept can have influence.
Rational ignorance is a concept that is used to refer to those situations in which The cost of learning something new outweighs the advantages that would come from having consolidated that new learning In other words, according to this concept, people will choose not to make the effort to gather more information on a given topic if doing so would entail more costs than the benefits obtained; Therefore, one would choose to act without having all the information that could be obtained in relation to any decision that should be made.
The term rational ignorance might seem paradoxical or contradictory at first glance; However, it does not have to be, since we cannot know everything nor do we have enough time to gather all the detailed information regarding the multiple options that are presented to us when making a decision. Therefore, we usually opt for the decision that seems most beneficial to us, taking into account the cost-benefit based on the information we have at our disposal at that moment.
This concept of rational ignorance It was coined by the American economist, specialized in institutional and political economics, Anthony Downs in 1957, in his treatise known as “An Economic Theory of Democracy”; It is also the precursor of rational choice theory, a theoretical framework developed within the fields of political science and economics that is usually used in order to understand and formally model the economic and social behavior of people.
From the perspective of rational choice theory, it is understood that people They tend to reduce risks or costs in time, effort and/or money, in addition to maximizing their utility-benefit ; In other words, people tend to opt for what they consider will bring them the most benefits and less for what could cause unflattering results in relation to its cost. The concept of rational ignorance is also framed in line with this theory.
The term rational ignorance It was used by Anthony Downs mainly in the field of economics; However, this term has also been used in other disciplines related to the study of rationality and human choice, such as psychology, sociology or philosophy, among others.
everyday examples
Rational ignorance could be said to be a heuristic way of making decisions in our daily lives and around various issues despite the fact that many times the choice made is not the most optimal or the most beneficial in the long term. Therefore, it is convenient that we look at some everyday examples to better understand this concept.
1. When deciding the academic/work future
An example of rational ignorance would be that of a student who has just finished his studies at the institute and decides to stop studying to find a job as soon as possible and be able to emancipate himself because he considers that studying for at least another 4 years to be able to aspire to a work that could be better paid, studying to work on what you consider to be your vacation, or simply to acquire new knowledge that could be valuable and interesting, is not worth all the money you must invest and the hours of study you must spend to get the race.
2. When purchasing a product
Another example of rational ignorance would be when a person is shopping at the supermarket and must decide what type of cereal to choose for breakfast and simply opts for those with less sugar, instead of doing a more exhaustive analysis by informing themselves about other ingredients and nutrients that they may have, since having less sugar does not mean that they are healthier, the sugars in other cereals that have a higher content could come from natural sources and in turn contain other more beneficial components such as fiber.
A good example would also be, applying rational ignorance in the field of politics, the case of that voter who considers that gathering all possible information about all the government proposals and plans of all the political parties that are running for elections would be a good example. They represent a high cost in terms of time and effort, so you decide to make your voting decision based on the information you already had regarding the different political parties, even if it may be minimal.
Rational ignorance in the case of the election when voting for a political party could also influence the fact that the voter considers that his vote is not going to be decisive; Therefore, he believes it is not worth investing his time and effort in analyzing each political party in detail to make the decision to vote for the party that best fits his ideas and interests or who he believes can do the most good for his country.
As we can see in the examples that we have just explained in reference to the concept of rational ignorance, although it may seem paradoxical, all of them have been rational decisions, since the person has weighed the costs-benefits and has opted for the decision that he considers most optimal and beneficial at the time of taking it; Although in the long term, if he had invested more effort, perhaps he could have chosen another decision that would provide him with more benefits.
Here the intolerance of uncertainty would also play an important role, since in all these cases it has been preferred to choose based on the resources or knowledge that one already has regarding the decision that must be made, instead of gathering more information. information with the aim of weighing what would be the best decision that could be made.
Positive and negative aspects of rational ignorance for decision making
Using rational ignorance is a point of reference when making decisions that has its benefits in certain situations, while in others it could be rather harmful or, at least, not as beneficial as having invested effort in opt for the more expensive path
For example, in the case of choosing which sneakers to buy at a sports store, it may be a good point of reference to choose sneakers from a brand that you already know because you have had other pairs of the same brand that have been comfortable and durable; instead of analyzing various factors of various brands, using time that he considers very valuable that could be spent doing other activities that he considers more important to be analyzing various sports brands.
On the other hand, in the case of choosing your academic and, consequently, work future, it may not be the best option to opt for a path with the information you have at that moment without reloading all the information necessary to analyze all the options. carefully available and so choose the one that could be most beneficial in the long term based on your own interests (for example vocation, remuneration, etc.).
The same thing as in the previous case occurs when choosing the foods to buy. And making a decision based on rational ignorance, although in the short term it may seem advantageous in terms of saving time and/or money, in the long term it could be harmful in the sense that it would be more beneficial for your health to opt for foods healthier, and to do so, you should analyze other factors, such as the ingredients that different products contain, instead of basing it solely on one ingredient such as sugar or simply on the price.
