Published March 21, 2026 | Version v1
Journal article Open

Motivated Ignorance — The Cognitive Structure of 'Not Wanting to Know'

Authors/Creators

  • 1. Institute for Social Vision Design (ISVD)

Description

Analyzing the mechanism by which individuals voluntarily choose to 'remain ignorant' rather than being forced into ignorance from external sources, from a cognitive science perspective. Examining how the 'illusion of knowledge' demonstrated by Sloman & Fernbach's 'The Knowledge Illusion' and motivated reasoning form the individual-level foundation of structural ignorance.

Notes

Japanese version available at https://isvd.or.jp/ja/labs/agnotology/essay-motivated-ignorance-self-deception (canonical English version at https://isvd.or.jp/en/labs/agnotology/essay-motivated-ignorance-self-deception).

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https://isvd.or.jp/en/labs/agnotology/essay-motivated-ignorance-self-deception (URL)
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https://isvd.or.jp/ja/labs/agnotology/essay-motivated-ignorance-self-deception (URL)