You are a person who goes to the gym regularly and, since you have read a book on diets, you think that you already know everything about nutrition. However, the reality is that you don’t even know how carbohydrates are differentiated or what the essential amino acids are. In turn, it is possible that, in the fields of athletics and sports in general, a large number of people who try to sell you miraculous training to become a champion, even though they may not even know what the energetic mechanisms involved are. in the athletic gesture.
If we continued giving examples of these daily situations of ignorance we would never end, but how can we define it exactly? In this Psychology-Online article we explain the different types of ignorance and their characteristics.
What is ignorance
The ignorance of latin ignorantia, It is the condition that qualifies the ignorant, that is, the person who has neglected the knowledge of certain things that one could or should know. Sometimes, the term ignorance is associated with “rudeness”, understood as rudeness of manners or ignorance of those “good manners” that are generally attributed to those who have wanted or been able to carry out a route educational.
The scope of “mandatory” knowledge includes knowledge of the law that is not permitted to be ignored. The Latin phrase “ignorantia legis non excusat” synthetically expresses the legal maxim regarding the presumption of knowledge of the law. In turn, its meaning is “The law does not forgive the ignorant,” which means that the law is supposed to always be available for the knowledge of the generality of citizens. This criterion, except in some exceptions, is considered unavoidable by jurisprudence.
Next, we show you the types of ignorance and what their characteristics are.
Rational ignorance
Ignorance about an issue is defined as “rational” when the cost of gathering sufficient information about an issue to make an informed decision exceeds the reasonable potential benefit expected from the decision, that is, the possible best solution. With this type of ignorance, the person tries to save himself an irrational waste of time, necessary to reach an answer.
Likewise, this fact can have consequences on the quality of decisions taken by a large number of people, as in the case of general elections, in which the probability of an individual vote changing the result is negligible.
This term, coined by Anthony Downs, It is almost always found in the economic sphere, especially in relation to the theory of public choice. However, it is also used in other disciplines that study rationality and choice, including game theory.
Example of rational ignorance
An example of rational ignorance may be the case of a businessman who has to choose between two candidates to whom he offers to perform a task at a cost of 10 euros per hour. The time needed to complete the task may be longer or shorter depending on the skills of the person performing it, so the employer will want to find the worker who will finish the job as quickly as possible. Let’s assume that the cost of another day of interviews with candidates is 100 euros.
If the employer has already deduced from the interviews that both candidates will complete the task in a period of between 195 and 205 hours, he may consider that the simplest thing will be select the best candidate through some simple method application such as, for example, flipping a coin, instead of spending the 100 euros needed to determine who is really the best for the job. With this, you would save a maximum of 100 euros in labor costs.
Pluralistic ignorance
In social psychology, pluralistic ignorance is a process that involves people when they are within a group. Each one thinks that the others have more information about the situation and, therefore, faces an ambiguous event. For this reason, people observe the behavior of others to try to interpret it correctly, possibly without taking into account that others also do the same. This fact leads to a high probability of inaction.
Generalizing is a process that occurs when several members of a group think, mistakenly, that they have different perceptions, beliefs or attitudes with respect to the rest of the group. However, they behave like others believing that, since everyone behaves in the same way, the opinions within the group will be unanimous.
That is, since everyone has the same perception and behaves as if they were in complete agreement with the others, each one will think that they are the only one to disagree. This, in turn, will reinforce the , as people tend to conform to what they perceive as consensus opinion rather than acting on their perceptions and beliefs.
Unavoidable ignorance
Although ignorance is real, for example, in cases in which the perpetrator of the crime was not aware of the incriminating norm, this does not justify the subject in the eyes of the law, since each citizen has a general duty to Find out about the laws in force in your country. Therefore, we understand as “inevitable” an absolutely exceptional situation of ignorance in which the agent subject is involved.
Some examples of inevitable ignorance are:
- Social isolation: the subject, due to a total failure, has not been able to have knowledge of the law that he has subsequently broken. For example, if the person has lived isolated from everything for years, without any contact with the outside world.
- Low cultural degree: the cultural level of the offender is so below average that the awareness of committing a criminal action is excluded. This circumstance occurs especially in cases where the offender is a foreigner and has just integrated into society.
- Inconsistency in the law:When there is a complete inconsistency in the legislative text, so serious that its scope cannot be understood. For example, when a rule is so poorly written that it raises doubts about its meaning.
- Poor jurisprudential guidance: when jurisprudential guidance leads to misinterpreting the law and, consequently, committing a crime.
However, special interpretive skills possessed by certain people who, due to their profession or other personal circumstances, allow them to better understand the legislative text must be taken into account. For example, ignorance of the law on the part of a foreigner is excusable if he has recently lived in the territory and is unable to understand the language, asks for help from professionals in the legal sector and still commits the crime due to being poorly advised.
This article is merely informative, at Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.
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Bibliography
- Acquaviva, M. (2022). When the ignorance of the legge is scusabile. Retrieved from: https://www.laleggepertutti.it/526129_quando-lignoranza-della-legge-e-scusabile
- Brocardi (2022). Ignorance of criminal law. Retrieved from: https://www.brocardi.it/codice-penale/libro-primo/titolo-i/art5.html