,
14 tweets,
9 min read
Read on Twitter
How do people decide what they want to know? With Tali Sharpy @affectivebrain, @CassSunstein, and @SamuelNHanes moderating. Thread!
Tali explains that people want to know information if they can take action. (And sometimes avoid information of they can't take action based on it.) #bx2019 @BXconference 
But pleasure from knowledge matters too. Tali calls this hedonic utility. Hence avoidance (by some) on predisposition to cancer. Tali calls this hedonic utility. #bx2019 @BXconference
Cognitive utility matters too. How much does the information relate to information you already know about and are interested in? This can cause or at least is related to confirmation bias. #bx2019 @BXconference
Fun and funny result: people more likely to want to know that other people see them as [positive adjective] than [negative adjective] even when the two adjectives are opposites. Though note majority of people want to know even when the adjective is negative. #bx2019 @BXconference
People will pay Tali's @affectivebrain lab for useless information about their lab-created stock market value. People pay to avoid learning what they worry will be bad news and to learn what they anticipate will be good news. #bx2019 @BXconference
"Cass ruined popcorn" - @CassSunstein notes that Obamacare rule that menus (including in movie theaters) show calorie counts proves that sometimes ignorance really really is bliss. #bx2019 @BXconference
Black hole of regulation is value (positive or negative) to consumers from information, @CassSunstein argues. #bx2019 @BXconference
Interesting to see @CassSunstein discuss anti-smoking regulations and dance around @m_sendhil's point that things that make smokers sadder could also make smokers better off and happier if those things help them quit #bx2019 @BXconference
. @m_sendhil's point is that addiction makes more complex and weird any nuanced evaluation of regulation of addictive substances. Sometimes addicts wish they weren't addicted.
Or as @CassSunstein notes, preferences may change.
.@SamuelNHanes asks if this research justifies a cheating partner who hides their cheating ("I don't want my partner to be hurt"). Tali says, perhaps yes, but only if the cheater can be sure they won't change their behaviour because of what they did...
Audience question on if desire to know cancer predisposition might come from ability to react to it. Tali @affectivebrain notes this is equivalent to instrumental utility, which her lab found to be on average the most important of the 3 factors influencing desire to know info.
