Daniele Pennesi (University of Turin)

Seminar series “CLOSER, but not quite” – Correlation neglect and narratives in the ageing society

Venue: Campus Luigi Einaudi, room 3 D 1 01

Abstract. This paper contributes to understanding the impact of aging on information processing. Through an online experiment, we investigate whether older individuals are more prone to underestimating correlations among sources of information, which can lead to biased belief formation. This phenomenon, called correlation neglect, becomes increasingly significant in today’s information-rich societies. Motivated by heterogeneity in voting behavior, we compare the formation of beliefs regarding politically charged and neutral topics when the information sources exhibit correlations. Furthermore, we consider the interplay of correlation neglect with information transmitted in the form of narratives.