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The Incentives Lab
HBT-COG-0403 · Dimension COG · Cognition

Information Avoidance

Choosing not to look at freely available, decision-relevant information.

Reasoning·Mental Model·Grade B·draft· enriching…

Scientific Definition

Choosing not to look at freely available, decision-relevant information.

Plain-English Definition

Choosing not to look at freely available, decision-relevant information.

Feynman Explanation

Investors who stop checking the portfolio when the market dips.

Core Principle

Choosing not to look at freely available, decision-relevant information.

Mechanisms

Psychological

Pending editorial review.

Behavioral Economic

Choosing not to look at freely available, decision-relevant information.

Neurological

Pending editorial review.

Evolutionary

Pending editorial review.

Sociological

Pending editorial review.

Computational

Pending editorial review.

Systems

Whole dashboards quietly stop being opened.

Inputs (Triggers)

Pending editorial review.

Outputs (Behaviors)

Pending editorial review.

Behavioral Signature

Investors who stop checking the portfolio when the market dips.

Examples

Everyday
  • Patients delaying test results; managers avoiding a hard metric.
Modern (Organizational)
  • Whole dashboards quietly stop being opened.
Historical

Pending editorial review.

Famous Experiments

Pending editorial review.

Design Principles

  • Make consequential information un-ignorable; route it where avoidance is hardest.

Measurement Approaches

Pending editorial review.

Evidence

Evidence Grade
B (A strongest → E speculative)
Replication
★★★☆☆
Intervention Confidence
3 / 5
Consensus
Pending editorial review (HBT v1.0 auto-seed).
Limitations
Pending editorial review (HBT v1.0 auto-seed).
Open Research Questions

Pending editorial review.

Primary References

Pending editorial review.

Signature Section

The Perverse Incentive Lens™

How this behavior is exploited — and how to redesign around it.

Exploitation
Whole dashboards quietly stop being opened.
Amplifying Incentives
Whole dashboards quietly stop being opened.
Org Failure Modes
Whole dashboards quietly stop being opened.
Societal Failure Modes
Pending editorial review (HBT v1.0 auto-seed).
Ethical Considerations
Pending editorial review (HBT v1.0 auto-seed).
Redesign Strategies
Make consequential information un-ignorable; route it where avoidance is hardest.
Diagnostic Questions
  • Make consequential information un-ignorable; route it where avoidance is hardest.
Warning Signs

Pending editorial review.

Red Flags

Pending editorial review.

Intervention Playbook
Individual
Make consequential information un-ignorable; route it where avoidance is hardest.
Team
Pending editorial review (HBT v1.0 auto-seed).
Organization
Pending editorial review (HBT v1.0 auto-seed).
Policy
Pending editorial review (HBT v1.0 auto-seed).
AI Implications
Detection
Pending editorial review (HBT v1.0 auto-seed).
Measurement
Pending editorial review (HBT v1.0 auto-seed).
Mitigation
Pending editorial review (HBT v1.0 auto-seed).
Responsible Use
Pending editorial review (HBT v1.0 auto-seed).

Interactive Mini Network

Click any neighbor to re-center the graph and follow the threads of connection.

HBT-COG-0403 · COG
Information Avoidance
IAAbAbstractionsABAdaptive BiasABAdditive BiasAAAffirming a DisjunctADAgent DetectionARAlder's RazorAlAlgorithmsAMAll Models Are WrongABAllegiance BiasAFAnecdotal Fallacy

Knowledge Graph Neighbors

Version History

v1.1.0 · 2026-06-28Initial auto-seed from corpus.