Now listen to part of a lecture in a psychology class.
Professor: Okay. Well, so recently when I was buying a new car, I was looking at several different cars and I took a lot of time researching the advantages and disadvantages of each one before finally making up my mind to buy one particular car. However, it was a different matter yesterday, when I had to go to the store to buy some batteries for a flashlight, and there must have been four to five different brands of batteries at the store, batteries made by different companies. Well, no doubt some batteries may last longer than others and some might be higher in quality or cost slightly more or slightly less.
But do you think I stood there reading each battery’s package, or do you think I asked the salespeople questions so I can compare them? Of course not, because frankly they all cost around the same and they probably last about the same amount of time. And well, I didn’t want to waste ten minutes standing there trying to figure out which batteries were best. I just grabbed the first ones I saw and paid for them.
Explain how the example from the professor's lecture illustrates the concept of rational ignorance.
The reading talks about rational ignorance which means when making less important purchases, people deliberately choose to remain ignorant of the differences between various options because they believe it's not worth the time or energy. In the lecture, the professor uses his own experience as an example. When he was considering buying a new car, he did a lot of research comparing the pros and cons of different cars before finally making a decision. However, it was a different story when he was buying batteries. He knew that there were several different brands of batteries at the store, some of which may last longer or be of higher quality. Instead of wasting time asking the salespeople about the batteries or reading the packages, he just grabbed the first batteries he saw because he didn't want to spend extra time there.
