rational ignorance

(noun)

The belief that the cost of educating oneself on an issue exceeds the potential benefit that the knowledge would provide.

Related Terms

  • political socialization

Examples of rational ignorance in the following topics:

  • Political Knowledge

    • This type of voter ignorance is due to the fact that, oftentimes, the cost of investigating political issues and forming opinions outweighs the benefits.
    • This theory, called "rational ignorance," effects the quality of decisions made by large numbers of people and can be seen in general elections, where the probability of any one vote changing the outcome is very small.
  • A Revisionist Theory of Conceptual Change: A Holistic View

    • A major criticism of the original conceptual change theory is that it presents an overly rational approach to student learning--an approach that emphasizes and assumes logical and rational thinking (Pintrich, Marx, & Boyle, 1993).
    • Pintrich et al. refer to this approach as "cold conceptual change," because it ignores the affective (e.g., motivation, values, interests) and social components of learning.
  • Cognitive Biases

    • They and their colleagues demonstrated several replicable ways in which human judgments and decisions differ from rational choice theory.
    • This inappropriate confirmation allows for poor decision-making that ignores the true implications of new data.
    • In this situation, they believe that their confidence in their decision is founded on a rational and logical assessment of the facts when it is not.
    • Framing enables people to ignore relevant facts by narrowing down what is considered applicable to a given decision.
  • Psychological Pricing

    • Odd prices are intended to drive demand greater than would be expected if consumers were perfectly rational.
    • Consumers ignore the least significant digits rather than do the proper rounding.
    • Even though the cents are seen and not totally ignored, they may subconsciously be partially ignored.
  • Zeroes of Polynomial Functions With Rational Coefficients

    • A real number that is not rational is called irrational.
    • The term rational in reference to the set Q refers to the fact that a rational number represents a ratio of two integers.
    • In mathematics, the adjective rational often means that the underlying field considered is the field Q of rational numbers.
    • Rational polynomial usually, and most correctly, means a polynomial with rational coefficients, also called a "polynomial over the rationals".
    • However, rational function does not mean the underlying field is the rational numbers, and a rational algebraic curve is not an algebraic curve with rational coefficients.
  • Introduction to Rational Functions

    • A rational function is one such that $f(x) = \frac{P(x)}{Q(x)}$, where $Q(x) \neq 0$; the domain of a rational function can be calculated.
    • Note that every polynomial function is a rational function with $Q(x) = 1$.
    • For a simple example, consider the rational function $y = 1/x$.
    • Factorizing the numerator and denominator of rational function helps to identify singularities of algebraic rational function.
    • Graph of a rational function with equation $\frac{(x^2 - 3x -2)}{(x^2 - 4)}$.
  • Rational Decision Making

    • Rational decision making is a multi-step process, from problem identification through solution, for making logically sound decisions.
    • Rational decision making is a multi-step process for making choices between alternatives.
    • The process of rational decision making favors logic, objectivity, and analysis over subjectivity and insight.
    • The word "rational" in this context does not mean sane or clear-headed as it does in the colloquial sense.
    • The idea of rational choice is easy to see in economic theory.
  • Problems with the Rational Decision-Making Model

    • Critics of rational choice theory—or the rational model of decision-making—claim that this model makes unrealistic and over-simplified assumptions.
    • Their objections to the rational model include:
    • The more complex a decision, the greater the limits are to making completely rational choices.
    • The theory of bounded rationality holds that an individual's rationality is limited by the information they have, the cognitive limitations of their minds, and the finite amount of time they have to make a decision.
    • Bounded rationality shares the view that decision-making is a fully rational process; however, it adds the condition that people act on the basis of limited information.
  • Theory of Utility

    • The theory of utility is based on the assumption of that individuals are rational.
    • Rationality has a different meaning in economics than it does in common parlance.
    • It is important to emphasize how rationality relates to a person's individual preferences.
    • Based on their preferences, both made the economically rational choice.
    • The notion of rationality is therefore central to any understanding of microeconomics.
  • Rational-Legal Authority

    • Rational-legal authority is a form of leadership in which authority is largely tied to legal rationality, legal legitimacy, and bureaucracy.
    • In rational-legal authority, power is passed on according to a set of rules.
    • Rational-legal authority is a form of leadership in which the authority of an organization or a ruling regime is largely tied to legal rationality, legal legitimacy, and bureaucracy.
    • Ration-legal authority depends on routinized administration, which often involves a lot of paperwork.
    • According to Weber, rational-legal authority is a form of leadership in which the authority of an organization or a ruling regime is largely tied to legal rationality, legal legitimacy, and bureaucracy.
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