The impact of optimism on information avoidance: Does the perception of probabilities influence our information acquiring behavior?

Research related to information avoidance emphasizes the importance of determining behavioral biases when acquiring information. This study aimed to analyze the relationship between information avoidant behavior in personal financial decision-making and the optimistic attitudes. It was hypothesized that optimism is associated positively to information avoidant behavior. An experiment was conducted to test the relationship between economic optimism and information avoidance using student sample. Information avoidance related to the foregone investment opportunities was tested using Information Avoidance Scale. The optimistic attitudes were estimated using parameters of the probability weighting function under risk using midweight method. Based on the results, it cannot be concluded that optimistic attitude is associated with information avoidant behavior in the financial setting. This research contributes to the literature in the information avoidance by quantitatively studying the relationship between information avoidant behavior and one of the definitions of optimism, although further analysis is needed to reach conclusion about the true association of optimism and information avoidance.