Rational Ignorance
When people are planning to make an important purchase, they often spend a great deal of time gathering information about their various options to make the best possible choice. However, when making less important purchases, people may decide it is not worth gathering information beforehand. This phenomenon is called rational ignorance. If the differences between products seem small or unimportant, people may decide not to learn about them. In other words, people deliberately choose to remain ignorant of the differences because learning about them is not worth the time or energy. The products are so similar that no significant benefit can come from choosing one over another.
听力材料：
Professor: Okay. Well, so recently when I was buying a new car, I was looking at several different cars and I took a lot of time researching the advantages and disadvantages of each one before finally making up my mind to buy one particular car. However, it was a different matter yesterday, when I had to go to the store to buy batteries for a flashlight, and there must have been four to five different brands of batteries at the store, batteries made by different companies. Well, no doubt some batteries may last longer than others and some might be higher in quality or cost slightly more or slightly less. But do you think I stood there reading each battery’s package, or do you think I asked the salespeople questions so I can compare them? Of course not, because frankly they all cost around the same and they probably last about the same amount of time. And well, I didn’t want to waste ten minutes standing there trying to figure out which batteries were best. I just grabbed the first ones I saw and paid for them.
Question：
Explain how the example from the professor's lecture illustrates the concept of rational ignorance.
