Robust preferences for information that violates one’s self-perception: the case of non-human sources

Abstract Individuals actively work to maintain their self-concept. To date, self-concept maintenance has been portrayed mainly as the result of self-verification and self-enhancement motivations. These motivations have been suggested to influence a plethora of behaviors, including engagement with sources of information predicted to provide motivation-consistent information. In tandem, information-seeking perspectives highlight the value of instrumental information that facilitates growth and learning, which could be self-inconsistent. Across five pre-registered studies, we demonstrate that individuals indeed seek engagement with self-inconsistent information when provided by non-human information sources. In Studies 1–2 (and S4), people forwent money to retake questionnaires that provided self-violating evaluations, particularly negative ones. In Study 3 (and S5), participants forwent money and displayed less conflict when choosing potentially self-violating information from a valid algorithm. Combined, the robust preference for informational sources providing self-inconsistent information suggests a hitherto neglected motivation that shapes informational preferences in certain contexts to potentially facilitate self-learning.