Does curiosity make us riskier? The mediating role of willful ignorance

Abstract

Willful ignorance—the deliberate avoidance of information—plays a pivotal role in shaping how individuals assess and respond to risk. This paper explores how willful ignorance contributes to both active and passive risk-taking, with particular emphasis on the latter, where lack of action can lead to significant harm. We examine the potential of epistemic curiosity to counteract this avoidance by promoting instrumental information-seeking, while also acknowledging its potential to increase active risk-taking through heightened sensation-seeking. We present a dual-pathway model in which curiosity has opposing effects on different types of risk behavior, mediated by information preferences. This framework highlights willful ignorance as a key mechanism in risk-related decisions and offers insights into how curiosity can both mitigate and amplify risk.