The psychological foundations of rational ignorance: biased heuristics and decision costs

Article

Taylor, Brad R.. 2020. "The psychological foundations of rational ignorance: biased heuristics and decision costs." Constitutional Political Economy. 31 (1), pp. 70-88. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10602-019-09292-4
Article Title

The psychological foundations of rational ignorance: biased heuristics and decision costs

ERA Journal ID18672
Article CategoryArticle
Authors
AuthorTaylor, Brad R.
Journal TitleConstitutional Political Economy
Journal Citation31 (1), pp. 70-88
Number of Pages19
Year2020
Place of PublicationUnited States
ISSN1043-4062
1572-9966
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1007/s10602-019-09292-4
Web Address (URL)https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10602-019-09292-4
Abstract

Rational ignorance and related models of voter choice have been accused of psychological implausibility or even incoherence. Although such models run counter to folk psychological understandings of choice, this paper argues that they are consistent with widely-accepted dual process theories of cognition. Specifically, I suggest that political ignorance can be explained via a “default interventionist” account in which a biased intuitive subsystem produces automatic responses which are overridden by rational refection when the prospective costs of error are significant. This is consistent with rational ignorance and related theories of political ignorance and bias. Providing stronger psychological foundations for rational ignorance also suggests new ways in which the theory might be developed to increase its predictive, analytic, and evaluative power.

Keywordsrational ignorance, rational irrationality, behavioural political economy, dual process theory, heuristics and biases
ANZSRC Field of Research 2020380113. Public economics - public choice
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Byline AffiliationsSchool of Commerce
Institution of OriginUniversity of Southern Queensland
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