Concept · Cognitive Bias: Decision-making and judgment biases
Reflection effect
Origin: Kahneman & Tversky, 1979
Biological Parallel
Starlings demonstrate risk-sensitive foraging: when energy reserves are high, they choose consistent food patches (risk-averse); when starving, they gamble on variable patches (risk-seeking). This threshold-dependent switch reflects survival logic—when above the survival line, minimize variance; when below it, only risk offers survival. The reflection effect maps directly to energy budgets: gains territory (fed) demands caution; losses territory (starving) demands gambles.