An old legend says that when an ostrich is afraid of something, it buries its head under the sand and thus it thinks it is safe from the evil of the enemy.
The ostrich effect is a kind of cognitive bias that the mind wants to constantly ignore some issues and, so to speak, hide itself. In such cases, a person prefers to hide his head under the snow like a partridge!
🔺 For people who need support or support in the organizational hierarchy, the ostrich effect has harmful results in such situations. The ostrich effect also causes some important issues in human relationships to remain unresolved and the work environment becomes unbearable.
A person who behaves under the influence of the ostrich effect prefers to avoid any situation that may cause a little discomfort.
This cognitive error causes a person to lose a lot of necessary information because he prefers not to do anything with that information. As a result, the person himself suffers a fundamental error in his judgments and gradually loses the trust of others, because he is either not present or does not react in the places where it is necessary.
The ostrich effect is often seen among people who are really good people, because they don’t want anyone to be upset by them. Such behavior is the dark side of excessive politeness. They always think wrongly because we didn’t do anything and didn’t say anything, so no one took anything from us, while by keeping silent, hiding and not reacting, they may harm others even more, especially those who are closer to them and expect more support.
🔺Research shows that if everyone doesn’t speak freely about problems, things like getting out of work will grow and burnout will increase among the valuable forces of the organization. As a result, the work environment becomes practically unbearable for many.
🔺 When making a decision, you can recognize the ostrich effect by asking a few simple questions. Is there more information I can get in addition to what I already know? Do I follow that information or ignore it? Why would I ignore that extra information if I did?
🔺 If in response to any of these questions, the person comes to the conclusion that the main reason is that he does not have the patience to deal with new information, then he is almost certainly caught by the ostrich effect.
This does not mean that you should never ignore any information. Sometimes you have to consciously ignore some information. Especially when the problem has nothing to do with us. When there is nothing we can do, we don’t need to get more information, because getting more information will probably only make us worse.
In the end, what is important in choosing information is to make a decision with full knowledge and from thought. Especially when we think about getting into an uncomfortable situation; Is avoiding that situation good for us and those around us, or is it simply rooted in the fear of facing reality? Thinking about such questions reduces the negative impact of the ostrich effect.