A recent article in Scientific American reveals something about human nature that’s at once surprising, and completely understandable: most people don’t want to know about bad things that will happen to us.
The article cites a number of studies that have asked participants if they’d like to find out whether or not they have a health condition (even a treatable one), what would have happened with an investment they passed on, or what people really think of them, among other things. A majority of participants have replied to all of these questions with a resounding “No!”
This is probably understandable to most of us. But if ignorance is bliss, there is, of course, a caveat. Discovering you have an illness, for instance, means that you can also learn about treatment and care options.
If avoiding bad news, regardless of the consequences, seems to make sense in some way, the article reveals a surprising twist: Other studies have shown that many of us don’t want to know about good news, either. For instance, over 60% of people polled in one survey said that they didn’t want to know what their Christmas present next year would be.
Read on to learn more about these studies and what they say about human nature.
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