Ignorance is a lack of knowledge and understanding. The word "ignorant" is an adjective that describes a person in the state of being unaware, or even cognitive dissonance and other cognitive relation, and can describe individuals who are unaware of important information or facts. Ignorance can appear in three different types: factual ignorance (absence of knowledge of some fact), object ignorance (unacquaintance with some object), and technical ignorance (absence of knowledge of how to do something).

Consequences

Ignorance can have negative effects on individuals and societies, but can also benefit them by creating within them the desire to know more. For example, ignorance within science opens the opportunity to seek knowledge and make discoveries by asking new questions. Though this can only take place if the individual possesses a curious mind. Studies suggest that adults with an adequate education who perform enriching and challenging jobs are happier, and more in control of their environment. The confidence that adults obtain through the sense of control that education provides allows those adults to go for more leadership positions and seek for power throughout their lives. In 1984, author Thomas Pynchon observed: Another effect of ignorance is characterized by the Dunning-Kruger effect, named after the scientists

David Dunning David Alan Dunning is an American social psychologist and professor of psychology at the University of Michigan. He is a retired professor of psychology at Cornell University. Education He received his BA from Michigan State University in 1982 ...

and

Justin Kruger Justin S. Kruger is an American social psychologist and professor at New York University Stern School of Business. Education Kruger received his BS in Psychology from Santa Clara University in 1993 (spending his junior year at Durham Univers ...

in 1999. This theory centralizes the behavior of subjects regarding their intellectual capabilities and social behaviors. The limited information or competence of people that possess the Dunning-Kruger translates into a feeling of intellectual superiority.

, ignorance as a concept in Buddhism * Dunning–Kruger effect * Fallibilism is the philosophical principle that human beings could be wrong about their beliefs, expectations, or their understanding of the world, and yet still be justified in holding their incorrect beliefs. * General Ignorance, the final round of the BBC quiz show '' QI'' (2003 onwards), which focuses on seemingly easy questions but whose obvious answers are wrong. **'' The Book of General Ignorance'' (2006), based on the BBC quiz show. The book aims to correct common misconceptions. *

Hypocrisy Hypocrisy is the practice of engaging in the same behavior or activity for which one criticizes another or the practice of claiming to have moral standards or beliefs to which one's own behavior does not conform. In moral psychology, it is the ...

Ignorance Is Bliss "Ignorance is bliss" is a phrase coined by Thomas Gray in his 1768 "Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College". The sentiment was already expressed by Publilius Syrus: In nil sapiendo vita iucundissima est. (In knowing nothing, life is most delig ...

* Ignorance management, a knowledge management practice that addresses the concept of ignorance in organizations *

Innocence Innocence is a lack of guilt, with respect to any kind of crime, or wrongdoing. In a legal context, innocence is to the lack of legal guilt of an individual, with respect to a crime. In other contexts, it is a lack of experience. In relation ...

, a term sometimes used to indicate a naive lack of knowledge or understanding. * Jahiliyyah, Islamic concept for "ignorance of divine guidance". * Newspeak, the fictional language in the 1949 novel '' Nineteen Eighty-Four'', written by

George Orwell Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950), better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English novelist, essayist, journalist, and critic. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to totalitar ...

. A reduced language created by a totalitarian state as a tool to keep the population in a controlled state of ignorance, and Crimestop described as "protective stupidity". * Pluralistic Ignorance a situation in which a majority of group members privately reject a norm, but go along with it because they assume, incorrectly, that most others accept it. * Rational ignorance a voluntary state of ignorance that can occur when the cost of educating oneself on an issue exceeds the potential benefit that the knowledge would provide * Sociology of scientific ignorance, the study of ignorance as something relevant.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Anti-intellectualism Barriers to critical thinking Concepts in epistemology

Consequences

See also

References

Further reading

External links