Cognitive Scaffold

Preparing your thinking workspace

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MENTAL MODEL · M6337

Ostrich Effect

Ostrich Effect
BehaviorHigh supportPsychology
Included
account_tree

Version 1.0.0 · Updated 2026-07-30

CORE DEFINITION

When market conditions are poor or facing bad news, people tend to bury their heads in the sand (refusing to check accounts, not looking at medical reports) to escape psychological pain.

SCAFFOLDING EFFECT

psychology

Reduce cognitive load

Selective avoidance of information. When you find yourself not wanting to look at certain data (such as weight, credit card bills), that data has usually already deteriorated. Forcing yourself to face the data you least want to see is the first step to solving the problem.

anchor

Anchor fast decisions

Proposed by behavioral economists, it refers to people actively reducing information acquisition (selective information avoidance) when facing negative information, to reduce immediate psychological discomfort. Essentially, it is a short-term optimal strategy driven by loss aversion and emotional regulation, but in the long run, it comes at the cost of information distortion.

MINIMUM ACTION

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Source support: Explicit

  • link
    zh.wikipedia.orghttps://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%B8%B5%E9%B8%9F%E6%95%88%E5%BA%94ZH · Explicit
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