Demand for information about potential wins and losses: Does it matter if information matters?

The ostrich effect refers to the observation that people prioritize gathering information about prospectively positive financial outcomes. It is especially problematic when negative and outcomes equally useful for making sound decisions. Yet, it unclear what extent this phenomenon moderated by whether outcome choices. Here, we test instrumental choice moderates randomly assigning 800 adults one of two computer-based gambling tasks, in which they chose between 50/50 win/lose gambles another computer them at random. four possible were concealed win/loss marked tiles, participants required reveal three before a gamble could be selected. key finding was demand full losses increased significantly made their own choices, thus, instrumental. findings suggest de-prioritized particularly cannot take action influence payoffs.