My Research
I study how people decide what they want to know - and what they prefer to avoid knowing - especially when information can be obtained only by asking another person. My research sits at the intersection of social psychology, decision‑making, and interpersonal trust. I focus on “willful ignorance” and information avoidance in everyday relationships and organizational life, with an emphasis on the social cost of asking: when asking a question may signal mistrust, create discomfort, or threaten the relationship—even when the information is important.
I am a PhD researcher in Psychology at Ben‑Gurion University of the Negev, in Prof. Yoella Bereby-Meyer's Social Decision Making & Risk Lab (SDMR).
Research Areas
My research areas include:
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The social cost of asking: how norms, privacy boundaries, and relational risk shape whether people ask sensitive questions.
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Trust signals in dyadic relationships: how seeking information (or avoiding it) interacts with trust cues between two people.
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Willful ignorance and information avoidance: when and why individuals avoid available information, and what psychological functions this avoidance serves.
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Individual differences in decision-making: how stable differences between people shape information seeking vs. avoidance in uncertainty and social contexts.
Current Study Spotlight
A recurring assumption in many theories of willful ignorance is that people avoid information because the content might be painful or threatening. My current work broadens this picture by emphasizing another driver: the interpersonal and social costs of seeking information.
In my recent review, I argue that people often avoid asking sensitive questions not merely to stay uninformed, but because asking can be socially risky - potentially implying distrust, violating norms, or intruding on privacy - so people trade off “clarity” for “social harmony.”
This line of research is relevant anywhere that trust and uncertainty meet: leadership decisions, co‑founder dynamics, high‑stakes collaboration, negotiations, and even close personal relationships.
Publications
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Zahavi, Y., & (2025). The cost of asking: Extending the dimensions of willful ignorance. Current Opinion in Psychology, 65, 102105. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2025.102105.
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MA Thesis research: Embracing Willful Ignorance over Mistrust Signals (presented in an academic setting at Ben‑Gurion University).
Earlier Technology Research & Patents
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US Patent 9465946. Identification and execution of subsets of a plurality of instructions in a more secure execution environment. 10/11/2016.
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US Patent 9071505. Method and system for dynamically allocating services for subscribers data traffic. 6/30/2015.
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US Patent 08595835. System to enable detecting attacks within encrypted traffic. 11/23/2013.
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US Patent 08370737. Method and system for inserting data in a web page that is transmitted to a handheld device. 2/5/2013.
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US Patent 07934253. System and method of securing web applications across an enterprise. 4/26/2011.
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US Patent 07895652. System to enable detecting attacks within encrypted traffic. 2/22/2011.
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US Patent App 20090094377. Method and system for accelerating browsing sessions. 9/26/2008.
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US Patent App 20080034424. System and method of preventing web application threats. 9/14/2006