Deliberate Ignorance
Willful Ignorance · Information Avoidance · Strategic Ignorance
The conscious choice not to seek or use available information — even when obtaining it would be free and easy.
Origin
Psychologist Ralph Hertwig of the Max Planck Institute and legal scholar Christoph Engel published "Homo Ignorans: Deliberately Choosing Not to Know" in Perspectives on Psychological Science in 2016, providing the first systematic framework for the phenomenon. They catalogued types and functions of deliberate ignorance, arguing it is neither inherently rational nor irrational but a cognitive tool whose value depends on the actor and context.
Everyday Use
You might skip reading product reviews after you've already bought something, or avoid checking your bank balance after a spending spree. Sometimes not knowing feels protective — it shields you from regret, preserves surprise, or lets you maintain plausible deniability.