Unfortunately, some information does not improve people’s lives in any way. It does not improve their decisions, and it does not make them happier.
Sometimes it is useless. Sometimes it makes them miserable.
Sometimes it makes their decisions worse. (p. 1)
people’s intuitive, emotional reaction to information, and to the prospect of receiving it, often determines whether they will seek or avoid it. (p. 15)
Some information has negative instrumental value (…) suppose that you are fighting a serious illness. Your chances of success, and of a long life, might depend on not knowing the odds. (p. 18)
An important finding here is that when people receive bad news-involving, say, a higher-than-expected risk of health problems-their initial level of distress is high, but they recover quite quickly. (p. 23)
an inaccurate prediction might also be a product of the focusing illusion. People often overestimate the effect of a particular event on their overall well-being, simply because they focus on it. As David Schkade and Daniel Kahneman have put it, “Nothing that you focus on will make as much difference as you think. (p. 24)