Why We Avoid Bad News and How to Face It

Ryan Halloran

So, uh, I- I want you to picture something. It is Sunday night, okay? You have just come home from a, a wildly expensive weekend trip, or maybe it was just a really, really heavy week of online ordering. The, the credit card notification pings on your phone, and what do you do? You, you swipe it away. You don't open the bank app. In fact, you- you actively avoid looking at your balance for, like, three days. Or maybe it's that draft from your boss with all the, the red track-changes lines on it. You know it's there, but you- you just can't bring yourself to click.

Dr. Maya Chen

Oh, I think we have all, uh, played that game, Ryan. It's that- that feeling that if I don't look at it, it- it doesn't exist. It's almost childlike, right? If I cover my eyes, the bad thing disappears.

Ryan Halloran

Exactly! But, see, it's not just a personal quirk or laziness. It's a deeply rooted psychological defense mechanism. Back in 2003, two economists, Dan Galai and Orly Sade, actually coined a term for this. They called it the Ostrich Effect. And then, uh, in 2009, this massive study by Karlsson, Loewenstein, and Seppi looked at stock investors. They found that when the S&P 500 was down, investors logged into their accounts significantly less often than when the market was up. Like, they literally chose ignorance over the reality of their own money, even though, you know, tracking your portfolio is pretty critical for financial survival.

Dr. Maya Chen

Right, they, they bury their head in the sand. And what's fascinating is that, psychologically, this is what Thomas Webb at the University of Sheffield calls the Ostrich Problem. It's this, this internal tug-of-war. Your brain is torn between two totally opposing motives. On one side, you have self-assessment—which is the logical, rational desire to get accurate information so you can, you know, reach your goals. But on the other side, you have self-enhancement or self-protection. That's the emotional drive to keep a positive, threat-free view of ourselves. And when progress tracking threatens our ego, the self-protection side wins. We choose short-term mood repair over long-term reality.

Ryan Halloran

Short-term mood repair. That's- that's exactly what it is. I- I mean, I see this with corporate coaching clients all the time. These are high-level executives, people running entire divisions, and they will, they will practice incredibly sophisticated versions of this. They'll delay project audits, or they'll, uh, they'll completely ignore employee exit interviews. Because looking at that feedback means admitting something is wrong, and that threatens their team's perceived status, or, or their own identity as a leader.

Dr. Maya Chen

Right, because if the team is failing, then they feel like they are failing as a person. The feedback ceases to be data; it becomes a- a verdict on their worth. So, how do we actually break that cycle? How do we stop hiding?

Dr. Maya Chen

Well, this is where the science gets really, really cool. In 2012, researchers Jennifer Howell and James Shepperd published a landmark study in Psychological Science. They were looking at medical testing—specifically, offering people a screening tool for a serious health risk. Now, normally, people avoid these tests because they're terrified of the results. It's the ultimate Ostrich scenario. But Howell and Shepperd had one group do this incredibly simple self-affirmation exercise first. They had them reflect on a core personal value that was totally unrelated to health—like creativity, or their relationships. And just by doing that, those participants became dramatically more willing to accept and act on their diagnostic data.

Ryan Halloran

Wait, wait, wait. So, so by thinking about, like, how much they value being a good sibling or, or painting, they were suddenly more willing to face a scary medical test? How does that work? Why does that unclog the ego?

Dr. Maya Chen

Yes! It- it sounds almost too simple, right? But neurologically, when you remind your brain of your broader identity—your core values—you expand your self-view. You're reminding yourself, "Hey, I am a complex person who is loved, who is creative, who has meaning." So when you face that bad bank balance or that critical work feedback, it's downgraded. It's no longer an existential threat to your entire self-worth. It's just, uh, it's just data. It's a signal you can use to adjust, not a verdict on who you are.

Ryan Halloran

Okay, I- I love that because it's highly actionable. Let's make this concrete for people. How do they actually do this tomorrow morning when they're staring at that unopened email or that financial spreadsheet? It's- it's a three-step process, right?

Dr. Maya Chen

Exactly. We call it the Value-Buffer. Step one: select a value domain that has absolutely nothing to do with the scary task. If you're about to look at your budget, don't think about money. Choose something like your love of nature, or your loyalty as a friend.

Ryan Halloran

Right, right. Keep the domains separate. And then step two is the write-up. You spend just 60 seconds writing down two sentences. Why does this value matter to you, and when was the last time you actually lived it? Like, "I value creativity because it makes me feel alive, and last night I spent ten minutes sketching." That's it.

Dr. Maya Chen

Exactly. It's a quick 60-second ego-buffer. And then step three: immediate exposure. While that broader identity is active in your mind, you immediately open the spreadsheet. You look at the balance. You read the feedback. You do it right then.

Ryan Halloran

But, okay, we- we do need to be realistic here. This is great for cognitive blocks, for that everyday avoidance, but it's not a magic cure-all. If someone has a severe, clinical phobia—like, a deep-seated medical trauma—a 60-second writing exercise isn't going to cut it. They need structured clinical support, like systematic desensitization.

Dr. Maya Chen

Absolutely, Ryan. We have to know the limits. But for most of us, for those daily "unopened boxes" on our schedules, this is an incredibly powerful tool. So, here is our challenge to you today: pick one thing you've been avoiding. Spend 60 seconds writing about a core value, and then open the box. Face the data.

Ryan Halloran

Alright, go try it out. Talk to you next time.