Overspent this Christmas? Blame the Ostrich problem!

o Study by psychologists suggests that we're motivated to ignore our goals over the festive period. o People intentionally bury their head in the sand and avoid information that can help them to monitor their progress - o Ignorance is bliss and few people watch their weight, monitor household energy consumption or check bank balances It's the festive season, time for eating, drinking and being merry, and any thoughts of reaching goals like losing weight or keeping on top of finances go out of the window. And now a team of psychologists at the University of Sheffield have carried out new research which suggests that burying our head in the sand instead of trying to meet our targets this month is completely understandable - in fact we are motivated to do so. Dr Thomas Webb, from the University's Department of Psychology, is the lead researcher on a project looking at the effect that monitoring progress can have when striving to achieve a goal. His research suggests that despite evidence that monitoring can help people to reach their targets, like regularly stepping on the scales when trying to drop a few pounds, there are times when individuals intentionally avoid such information. "There will be plenty of us over the Christmas period who will not check our bank balance or look at the calories on the back of the box of mince pies despite us wanting to be in control of our money or lose weight," said Dr Webb.