Fear of getting bad news about one’s health can cause people to avoir seeking out health infomration. Even if it would help them make better decisions about their care.
This can be associated with negative health outcomes suchas disease progression or spread.
The avoidant behavior obseved in this bias is one symtom of loss aversion, the idea that poeple tend to be more impacted by losses than the equivalent gains.
See the full study here :
Persoskie, A., Ferrer, R.A. & Klein, W.M.P. Association of cancer worry and perceived risk with doctor avoidance: an analysis of information avoidance in a nationally representative US sample. J Behav Med 37, 977–987 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10865-013-9537-2
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