Information Avoidance in Consumer Choice: Do Avoidance Tendencies and Motives Vary by Age?

Area of Science:

• Consumer Psychology
• Behavioral Economics
• Gerontology

Background:

• Previous research indicates older adults gather less information during consumer decisions compared to younger adults.
• The specific role of intentional information avoidance in these observed age differences remains largely unexplored.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate age-related differences in deliberate information avoidance within consumer decision-making.
• To identify potential motivations driving intentional information avoidance in older consumers.

Main Methods:

• Two online studies were conducted with adult lifespan samples.
• Study 1 (N=195) used a slider scale to assess information avoidance.
• Study 2 (N=500) employed a forced-choice task to measure information avoidance and explored motives.

Main Results:

• Study 1 did not reveal significant age differences in information avoidance, potentially due to methodological constraints.
• Study 2 demonstrated a significant association between older age and higher rates of information avoidance.
• Information avoidance correlated with perceived lack of impact on preferences, anticipated negative affect, and perceived information uselessness.

Conclusions:

• Older consumers exhibit higher levels of deliberate information avoidance in consumer contexts.
• While age correlates with lower perceived decision impact and reduced concern for negative affect, avoidance persists.
• Interventions aimed at increasing information acquisition among older adults should be specifically designed for this demographic.