Karlsson, Loewenstein and Seppi (2009) found that, following market downswings, investors are less likely to login to monitor their retirement portfolios. They concluded that, rather like (apocryphal) ostriches sticking their heads in the sand, investors avoid unpleasant information by reducing...

In this study, we examine the differences in the factors perceived to be significant in the security selection process between novice and experienced investors. We apply the direct inquiry approach to two distinct groups: One group is composed of students enrolled in traditional face-to-face...

We find that individual investors who use technical analysis and trade options frequently make poor portfolio decisions, resulting in dramatically lower returns than other investors. The data on which this claim is based consists of transaction records and matched survey responses of a sample of...

When determining a stock to buy, Strahilevitz et al. (2011) demonstrate that individual investors often repurchase a stock previously traded for a profit as a learning process. When evaluating a decision, people use the most available information that comes to mind. We posit that the most...

The present study explores the effect of the gambler's fallacy on stock trading volumes. I hypothesize that if a stock's price rises (falls) during a number of consecutive trading days, then the gambler's fallacy may cause at least some of the investors to expect that the stock's price 'has' to...

The present study explores the effect of the gambler’s fallacy on stock trading volumes. I hypothesize that if a stock’s price rises (falls) during a number of consecutive trading days, then the gambler’s fallacy may cause at least some of the investors to expect that the stock’s price...

The characterization of financial returns depends heavily on probabilistic behavior, which can be ill-fitted, thus leading to inappropriate economic decisions concerning asset pricing, portfolio allocation and/or the measurement of market risk. In this paper, we propose a test to determine the...

Self-attribution bias is a long-standing concept in psychology research and refers to individuals’ tendency to attribute successes to personal skills and failures to factors beyond their control. Recently, this bias is also being studied in household finance research and is considered to...

We analyze investors’ trading behavior, particularly their coping with fundamental shocks in asset value, depending on individual differences in the sensitivity of two basic neurophysiological systems—the Behavioral Approach System (BAS), the ‘driving force’ of human behavior, and the...