When it comes to their property, people often behave irrational: they consider things more valuable, just because they own them, and they fear their loss more than they would be happy about an equally big profit. These cognitive distortions, called "possession effect" and "lossaversion", are known from experiments with money and with objects - and now also when it comes to information. Researchers from the universities in Innsbruck and Pittsburgh report: In this regard, we deal with knowledge very similar to our material possessions.
The team led by psychologist Yana Litovsky had 400 test subjects decide whether they wanted to find out three facts immediately or rather wait in order to possibly "gain" further information later. The chances of success varied. The competition was rather chosen by those who subjectively did not suffer any loss as a result – which was manipulated quite subtly: everyone had to choose between either three or four pieces of information, but the researchers had previously explained to some that the three facts were actually reserved for them. Of these people, more than two–thirds decided against the option of four facts - probably because it would have felt like a loss: they had the impression that the three facts almost "belonged" to them already. Of the others, however, more than half chose the four-pack.
Behavioral economists usually see the value of information in the fact that it can help to make better decisions. But the current study was about facts without any practical use, such as the answer to the question: "In which country is the unicorn a national animal?" The fact that information is a kind of possession is also evident in language, says co-author Christopher Olivola, a marketing professor at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. For example, we "accumulate" knowledge or "adopt" a theory. "We often talk about knowledge as if we were consuming it.«
