People might go to sinful measures to incur out which fictional character willbe resurrectedin the next season ofGame of Thronesor whoRey ’s parentsreally are inStar Wars , but according to a fresh study , most would rather go spoiler - spare in literal life .
The study , published inPsychological Review , found that most hoi polloi do n’t really want to know the future , specially if the future issue is something damaging like the death of a loved one or likeliness of divorce .
“ In Greek mythology , Cassandra , daughter of the king of Troy , had the mightiness to anticipate the futurity . But , she was also cursed and no one believed her prophecies , ” explained lead author Gerd Gigerenzer of the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in astatement . “ In our sketch , we ’ve found that people would rather decline the powers that made Cassandra famous , in an drive to predate the suffering that know the future may do , invalidate regret and also maintain the enjoyment of suspense that pleasurable event provide . ”
The enquiry , which was acquit on 2,000 participants in Spain and Germany , found that 85 - 90 percent would rather remain ignorant about any forthcoming minus effect . Neither did they require to be informed about upcoming positive events , with 40 - 70 percent choosing instead to remain in the wickedness . In fact , only 1 percent of the player wanted to know what the future hold .
The participants were asked a number of questions about whether , hypothetically , they would like to know the outcomes of possible events , both positive and damaging . The dubiousness ranged from knowing what you were get for Christmas or the outcome of a sports biz to when and how they or a partner would die and whether there is life after death .
In almost every instance , the majority of people chose “ deliberate ignorance ” over knowing . The only motion that had a majority for people wanting to know was the sex activity of an unborn babe , with 37 percent enounce they did n’t want to know .
The researchers intimate that those who chose deliberate ignorance do so because they guess they will regret knowing the answer . By choosing not to know , they are avoiding those negative feeling that might get along with see about succeeding result .
They also found that those who wanted to remain ignorant were more likely to obviate jeopardy and bribe lifespan insurance , actions that are motivated by the anticipation of rue , which backed up their theory of why hoi polloi would prefer not to know what the time to come bind , instead of the common assumption that people would rather be machinate .
“ Not wanting to know appear counterintuitive and may erect eyebrows , but deliberate ignorance , as we ’ve shown here , does n’t just survive ; it is a widespread state of mind , ” said Gigerenzer .
