Scarcity bias

Biological Parallel

Squirrels hoard compulsively before winter—even when food is experimentally abundant. Scarcity cues (shortening days, temperature drops) trigger hoarding regardless of current availability. Evolution favored organisms that over-respond to scarcity signals: the cost of false alarm (wasted hoarding effort) is negligible compared to the cost of false security (starvation). Scarcity bias is a survival algorithm optimized for error asymmetry, not rational resource assessment.