Ostrich effect

Biological Parallel

Prey animals sometimes freeze rather than flee when threat information is ambiguous—the rabbit in headlights phenomenon. Gathering more information (looking toward the threat) can trigger predator pursuit, so information avoidance becomes adaptive in certain threat geometries. The ostrich effect mirrors this: checking a declining portfolio provides information that may trigger panic selling, so avoidance can be strategic. We're not hiding from reality—we're preventing information from forcing premature, high-cost decisions.