The virtues of ignorance |
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Authors: | Lisa K. Son Nate Kornell |
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Affiliation: | a Barnard College, Department of Psychology, 3009 Broadway, New York, NY 10027, United States b Williams College, United States |
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Abstract: | Although ignorance and uncertainty are usually unwelcome feelings, they have unintuitive advantages for both human and non-human animals, which we review here. We begin with the perils of too much information: expertise and knowledge can come with illusions (and delusions) of knowing. We then describe how withholding information can counteract these perils: providing people with less information enables them to judge more precisely what they know and do not know, which in turn enhances long-term memory. Data are presented from a new experiment that illustrates how knowing what we do not know can result in helpful choices and enhanced learning. We conclude by showing that ignorance can be a virtue, as long as it is recognized and rectified. |
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Keywords: | Metacognition Memory Learning Ignorance Illusions of knowing |
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