Ignorance is never bliss when it comes to patient care

When Ignorance is Bliss

It is commonly-accepted wisdom that more information is better, and that information should never be ignored. Here we argue, using both a Bayesian and a non-Bayesian analysis, that in some situations you are better off ignoring information if your uncertainty is represented by a set of probability measures. These include situations in which the information is relevant for the prediction task at...

Is Ignorance Bliss?

ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise. " Thomas Gray If ignorance were bliss, there is information you would pay not to have. Hence the question is whether a rationally-behaving agent would ever do such a thing. This paper demonstrates that 1. A Bayesian agent with a proper, countably additive prior never maximizes utility by paying not to see cost-free data. 2. The definition of " cost-fre...

Ignorance is bliss: the information malleability effect

In this dissertation, I propose that, post-action, people tend to be more optimistic about outcomes when their actions were based on malleable (vague) information compared to when their actions were based on unmalleable (precise) information. However, pre-action, no such difference occurs. I term this inconsistency in optimism in the pre and post-action stage, the Information Malleability Effec...

When Ignorance Is Bliss The Role of Motivation to Reduce Uncertainty in Uncertainty Reduction Theory

Three studies were conducted with the goal to articulate and test models for integrating the concept of motivation to reduce uncertainty into the axiomatic structure of uncertainty reduction theory. Multiple models were considered, each model defining motivation to reduce uncertainty in a different way. Motivation to reduce uncertainty was dtfined as a scope condition (Model 2), as tolerance fo...

When It Comes to Clethra: Roots Matter