Ostrich (ostrich) effect: definition, examples and practical tips
Posted: Sun Dec 22, 2024 10:42 am
Introduction
Do you think AI won't have that much of an impact? Nobel laureate Paul Krugman said in 1998, "By 2005 or so, it will become clear that the Internet's impact on the economy has been no greater than the fax machine's."
Ostrich behavior is not wise but it is a very natural reaction in the face of conflict, tension or uncertainty. Krugman's statement illustrates how ignoring potentially important information can harm a company through a lack of preparation for changing market conditions. In this article, we discuss the definition of the Ostrich effect, real-world examples and how you can benefit from it as an entrepreneur.
What is the ostrich effect?
When you suffer from the ostrich effect, you prefer to indian whatsapp number ignore negative information, including feedback and constructive criticism. You prefer not to know about it, even if you could benefit from it in the future (Galai & Sade, 2005).
Instead of making the best of it, we stick our heads in the sand, like ostriches (fable by the way). In doing so, we often make the situation worse. We prefer to be optimistic and dismiss pessimistic information (Lovallo & Kahneman, 2003).
How does the ostrich effect occur?
Sometimes a situation is so complex or overwhelming that you would rather ignore the entire situation than confront it. Consider climate change, for example, but even on a smaller scale, a problem can be too big to overlook. Key contributing factors:
Avoidance of loss: Humans have a natural tendency om verlies te vermijden. This is because the pain we feel from a loss is much greater than the pleasure we feel from a gain. When faced with potentially threatening or negative information, it may seem easier to ignore it rather than deal with it. Therefore, we prefer positive information (Ackerman, 2019) rather than negative emotions (Chang, Webb & Benn, 2017).
Cognitive dissonance: This is the discomfort people experience when confronted with information that conflicts with their beliefs or expectations. To reduce deze cognitieve dissonantie te, people may choose to ignore information that challenges their beliefs. In addition, we want to protect our ego. We like to have a positive self-image. We zoom in on our successes and minimize the impact of our failures, even if it is not real (Carlson, 2013). So even if we know we are not very good at something, we still do not like to see this confirmed by negative feedback, for example (Zuckerman, Brown, Fischler, Fox, Lathin & Minasian, 1979).
Limited attention: People have limited attention capacity. They may tend to focus on information that has immediate or obvious implications, while avoiding more complex or less immediate information.
For an entrepreneur and his business, this can have major long-term consequences.
Do you think AI won't have that much of an impact? Nobel laureate Paul Krugman said in 1998, "By 2005 or so, it will become clear that the Internet's impact on the economy has been no greater than the fax machine's."
Ostrich behavior is not wise but it is a very natural reaction in the face of conflict, tension or uncertainty. Krugman's statement illustrates how ignoring potentially important information can harm a company through a lack of preparation for changing market conditions. In this article, we discuss the definition of the Ostrich effect, real-world examples and how you can benefit from it as an entrepreneur.
What is the ostrich effect?
When you suffer from the ostrich effect, you prefer to indian whatsapp number ignore negative information, including feedback and constructive criticism. You prefer not to know about it, even if you could benefit from it in the future (Galai & Sade, 2005).
Instead of making the best of it, we stick our heads in the sand, like ostriches (fable by the way). In doing so, we often make the situation worse. We prefer to be optimistic and dismiss pessimistic information (Lovallo & Kahneman, 2003).
How does the ostrich effect occur?
Sometimes a situation is so complex or overwhelming that you would rather ignore the entire situation than confront it. Consider climate change, for example, but even on a smaller scale, a problem can be too big to overlook. Key contributing factors:
Avoidance of loss: Humans have a natural tendency om verlies te vermijden. This is because the pain we feel from a loss is much greater than the pleasure we feel from a gain. When faced with potentially threatening or negative information, it may seem easier to ignore it rather than deal with it. Therefore, we prefer positive information (Ackerman, 2019) rather than negative emotions (Chang, Webb & Benn, 2017).
Cognitive dissonance: This is the discomfort people experience when confronted with information that conflicts with their beliefs or expectations. To reduce deze cognitieve dissonantie te, people may choose to ignore information that challenges their beliefs. In addition, we want to protect our ego. We like to have a positive self-image. We zoom in on our successes and minimize the impact of our failures, even if it is not real (Carlson, 2013). So even if we know we are not very good at something, we still do not like to see this confirmed by negative feedback, for example (Zuckerman, Brown, Fischler, Fox, Lathin & Minasian, 1979).
Limited attention: People have limited attention capacity. They may tend to focus on information that has immediate or obvious implications, while avoiding more complex or less immediate information.
For an entrepreneur and his business, this can have major long-term consequences.