Ignorance is a lack of
knowledge
Knowledge can be defined as Descriptive knowledge, awareness of facts or as Procedural knowledge, practical skills, and may also refer to Knowledge by acquaintance, familiarity with objects or situations. Knowledge of facts, also called pro ...
and
understanding
Understanding is a psychological process related to an abstract or physical object, such as a person, situation, or message whereby one is able to use concepts to model that object.
Understanding is a relation between the knower and an object ...
. The word "ignorant" is an adjective that describes a person in the state of being
unaware
''Unaware'' is an American science-fiction horror thriller film directed by Sean Bardin and Robert Cooley. It follows a vacationing couple who discover something disturbing on a rural Texas ranch. Like the films ''Paranormal Activity'' (2007) and ...
, or even
cognitive dissonance
In the field of psychology, cognitive dissonance is the perception of contradictory information, and the mental toll of it. Relevant items of information include a person's actions, feelings, ideas, beliefs, values, and things in the environmen ...
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
Thomas Ruggles Pynchon Jr. ( , ; born May 8, 1937) is an American novelist noted for his dense and complex novels. His fiction and non-fiction writings encompass a vast array of subject matter, genres and themes, including history, music, scie ...
observed:
Another effect of ignorance is characterized by the
Dunning-Kruger effect, named after the scientists
David Dunning and
Justin Kruger 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.
See also
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Agnoiology
Agnoiology (from the Greek ἀγνοέω, meaning ignorance) is the theoretical study of the quality and conditions of ignorance, and in particular of what can truly be considered "unknowable" (as distinct from "unknown"). The term was coined by J ...
– the theoretical study of the unknown and the unknowable
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Agnotology
Within the sociology of knowledge, agnotology (formerly agnatology) is the study of deliberate, culturally-induced ignorance or doubt, typically to sell a product, influence opinion, or win favour, particularly through the publication of inaccur ...
– the study of culturally-induced ignorance or doubt
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Avidya (Hinduism), ignorance, a concept in Vedanta. Vidya is knowledge. Literally, Avidya is not knowledge.
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Avidyā (Buddhism), ignorance as a concept in Buddhism
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Dunning–Kruger effect
The Dunning–Kruger effect is a cognitive bias whereby people with low ability, expertise, or experience regarding a certain type of task or area of knowledge tend to overestimate their ability or knowledge. Some researchers also include in th ...
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Fallibilism
Originally, fallibilism (from Medieval Latin: ''fallibilis'', "liable to err") is the philosophical principle that propositions can be accepted even though they cannot be conclusively proven or justified,Haack, Susan (1979)"Fallibilism and Nece ...
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.
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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
''The Book of General Ignorance'' is the first in a series of books based on the final round in the intellectual British panel game '' QI'', written by series-creator John Lloyd and head-researcher John Mitchinson, '' (2006), based on the BBC quiz show. The book aims to correct
common misconception
Each entry on this list of common misconceptions is worded as a correction; the misconceptions themselves are implied rather than stated. These entries are concise summaries of the main subject articles, which can be consulted for more detail.
...
s.
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Hypocrisy
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Ignorance Is Bliss
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Ignorance management
Ignorance management is a knowledge management practice that addresses the concept of ignorance in organizations.
Overview
Logically, ignorance management is based upon the concept of ignorance. John Israilidis, Russell Lock, and Louise Cooke of L ...
, a
knowledge management
Knowledge management (KM) is the collection of methods relating to creating, sharing, using and managing the knowledge and information of an organization. It refers to a multidisciplinary approach to achieve organisational objectives by making ...
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.
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Jahiliyyah
The Age of Ignorance ( ar, / , "ignorance") is an Islamic concept referring to the period of time and state of affairs in Arabia before the advent of Islam in 610 CE. It is often translated as the "Age of Ignorance". The term ''jahiliyyah'' ...
, Islamic concept for "ignorance of divine guidance".
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Newspeak
Newspeak is the fictional language of Oceania, a totalitarian superstate that is the setting of the 1949 dystopian novel ''Nineteen Eighty-Four'', by George Orwell. In the novel, the Party created Newspeak to meet the ideological requirements ...
, the fictional language in the 1949 novel ''
Nineteen Eighty-Four
''Nineteen Eighty-Four'' (also stylised as ''1984'') is a dystopian social science fiction novel and cautionary tale written by the English writer George Orwell. It was published on 8 June 1949 by Secker & Warburg as Orwell's ninth and fina ...
'', written by
George Orwell. A reduced language created by a totalitarian state as a tool to keep the population in a controlled state of ignorance, and
Crimestop
Thoughtcrime is a word coined by George Orwell in his 1949 dystopian novel ''Nineteen Eighty-Four''. It describes a person's politically unorthodox thoughts, such as beliefs and doubts that contradict the tenets of Ingsoc (English Socialism) ...
described as "protective stupidity".
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Pluralistic Ignorance
In social psychology, pluralistic ignorance refers to a situation in which the minority position on a given topic is wrongly perceived to be the majority position or where the majority position is wrongly perceived to be the minority position. Thi ...
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.
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Rational ignorance
Rational ignorance is refraining from acquiring knowledge when the supposed cost of educating oneself on an issue exceeds the expected potential benefit that the knowledge would provide.
Ignorance about an issue is said to be "rational" when the ...
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
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Sociology of scientific ignorance
The sociology of scientific ignorance (SSI) is the study of ignorance in and of science. The most common way is to see ignorance as something relevant, rather than simply lack of knowledge. There are two distinct areas in which SSI is being studie ...
, the study of ignorance as something relevant.
References
Further reading
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Gigerenzer, Gerd and Garcia-Retamero, Rocio
Cassandra’s Regret: The Psychology of Not Wanting to Know(March 2017), ''
Psychological Review,'' 2017, Vol. 124, No. 2, 179–196. Paper proposes a regret theory of deliberate ignorance.  
A summary discussionof the paper on the website of the ''
American Psychological Association
The American Psychological Association (APA) is the largest scientific and professional organization of psychologists in the United States, with over 133,000 members, including scientists, educators, clinicians, consultants, and students. It ha ...
(APA).''
External links
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{{Authority control
Anti-intellectualism
Barriers to critical thinking
Concepts in epistemology