With Evelyn Y.H. Huang. August 2025 (Draft Available Upon Request).
Abstract
Does exposing information avoiders to information induce belief and behavioral change? In an experiment, subjects make two investment decisions as they choose between two bankers. In between, they decide whether to receive or avoid a piece of free information about whether their first decision is good or bad. Crucially, we randomize information provision such that information avoiders may receive information, and non-avoiders may receive no information. First, subjects avoid information when they are pessimistic about their first decisions, implying that subjects avoid due to cognitive dissonance. Second, we find that upon receiving the same piece of positive information, avoiders and non-avoiders behave similarly; upon receiving no information, compared to non-avoiders, avoiders are more optimistic about and more likely to persist with their first decisions; upon receiving negative information, avoiders update their belief on their first decisions similarly as non-avoiders, interestingly they are more likely to persist with the first decisions and justify by updating negatively about the other banker. The results suggest a limited impact of information campaigns that "force" individuals to receive and pay attention to information. 