Why do we prefer to ignore negative information?

The 

Ostrich Effect

, explained.
Bias

What is the Ostrich Effect?

The ostrich effect, also known as the ostrich problem, is a cognitive bias that describes how people often avoid negative information, including feedback that could help them monitor their goal progress. Instead of dealing with the situation, we bury our heads in the sand, like ostriches. This avoidance can often make things worse, incurring costs that we might not have had to pay if we had faced things head-on.

Where this bias occurs

Let’s say you’ve been eating out a lot recently, probably more than you should. You know you should probably check your bank account balance to see what the damage is, but every time you think about doing so, you start to feel anxious—you know the situation is bad, but you don’t want to see how bad. In the end, you keep up your bad spending habits, but you almost never check to see how much money you’re spending.

Related Biases

Sources

  1. Porche, B. (2018, May 14). Poll: Half of balance-carrying cardholders clueless about their APRs. CreditCards.com. https://www.creditcards.com/credit-card-news/dont-know-card-apr-poll/
  2. Webb, T. L., Chang, B. P., & Benn, Y. (2013). ‘The ostrich problem’: Motivated avoidance or rejection of information about goal progress. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 7(11), 794-807. https://doi.org/10.1111/spc3.12071
  3. Galai, D., & Sade, O. (2005). The ‘Ostrich effect’ and the relationship between the liquidity and the yields of financial assets. SSRN Electronic Journal, 79(5), 2741-2759. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.666163
  4. Kahneman, D. (2011). Thinking, fast and slow. Macmillan.
  5. Behavioral Economics Hub. (2019, March 29). Myopic loss aversion. The BE Hub. https://www.behavioraleconomics.com/resources/mini-encyclopedia-of-be/myopic-loss-aversion/
  6. Ackerman, C. E. (2019, April 7). Pollyanna principle: The psychology of positivity bias. PositivePsychology.com. https://positivepsychology.com/pollyanna-principle/
  7. Hoorens V. (2014) Positivity Bias. In: Michalos A.C. (eds) Encyclopedia of Quality of Life and Well-Being Research. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-0753-5
  8. Lovallo, D., & Kahneman, D. (2003, July). Delusions of success: How optimism undermines executives’ decisions. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2003/07/delusions-of-success-how-optimism-undermines-executives-decisions
  9. Chang, B. P., Webb, T. L., & Benn, Y. (2017). Why do people act like the proverbial ostrich? Investigating the reasons that people provide for not monitoring their goal progress. Frontiers in Psychology, 8. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00152
  10. Carlson, E. N. (2013). Overcoming the barriers to self-knowledge. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 8(2), 173-186. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691612462584
  11. Sedikides, C., & Gregg, A. P. (2008). Self-enhancement: Food for thought. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 3(2), 102-116.
  12. Zuckerman, M., Brown, R. H., Fischler, G. L., Fox, G. A., Lathin, D. R., & Minasian, A. J. (1979). Determinants of information-seeking behavior. Journal of Research in Personality, 13(2), 161-174.
  13. Festinger, L. (1957). A theory of cognitive dissonance (Vol. 2). Stanford university press.
  14. Suls, J. (n.d.). Leon Festinger. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Leon-Festinger/Cognitive-dissonance
  15. Harish, A. (2012, August 2). New law in North Carolina bans latest scientific predictions of sea-level rise. ABC News. https://abcnews.go.com/US/north-carolina-bans-latest-science-rising-sea-level/story?id=16913782
  16. Harvey, F. (2019, May 8). US is hotbed of climate change denial, major global survey finds. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/may/07/us-hotbed-climate-change-denial-international-poll
  17. Tuckey, M., Brewer, N., & Williamson, P. (2002). The influence of motives and goal orientation on feedback seeking. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 75(2), 195-216. https://doi.org/10.1348/09631790260098677
  18. Shepherd, S., & Kay, A. C. (2012). On the perpetuation of ignorance: System dependence, system justification, and the motivated avoidance of sociopolitical information. Journal of personality and social psychology, 102(2), 264.

About the Authors

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Dan Pilat

Dan is a Co-Founder and Managing Director at The Decision Lab. He is a bestselling author of Intention - a book he wrote with Wiley on the mindful application of behavioral science in organizations. Dan has a background in organizational decision making, with a BComm in Decision & Information Systems from McGill University. He has worked on enterprise-level behavioral architecture at TD Securities and BMO Capital Markets, where he advised management on the implementation of systems processing billions of dollars per week. Driven by an appetite for the latest in technology, Dan created a course on business intelligence and lectured at McGill University, and has applied behavioral science to topics such as augmented and virtual reality.

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Dr. Sekoul Krastev

Sekoul is a Co-Founder and Managing Director at The Decision Lab. He is a bestselling author of Intention - a book he wrote with Wiley on the mindful application of behavioral science in organizations. A decision scientist with a PhD in Decision Neuroscience from McGill University, Sekoul's work has been featured in peer-reviewed journals and has been presented at conferences around the world. Sekoul previously advised management on innovation and engagement strategy at The Boston Consulting Group as well as on online media strategy at Google. He has a deep interest in the applications of behavioral science to new technology and has published on these topics in places such as the Huffington Post and Strategy & Business.

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