Psychological Traps in Investment Analysis

Investment analysts can fall into several psychological traps (and should strive to avoid doing so.)

Anchoring refers to giving disproportionate weight to the first information received about a topic.

Status quo bias is the tendency to perpetuate recent observations in forecasts.

Confirming evidence is the tendency to give more weight to information that supports existing or preferred points of view than to information that contradicts the preferred view.

Overconfidence is having too much faith in the accuracy of one’s forecasts.

Recallability is when forecasts are overly influenced by events that left a strong impression on the forecaster’s memory.

For more information, see all articles on: Asset Allocation, Behavioral Finance, FInancial Planning, Institutional Investing, Portfolio Management

See also:
  • Self-attribution Bias and the Psychological Call Option
  • How Psychological Profiling Can Be Used to Understand Individual Investor Behavior
  • Conducting an Industry Analysis
  • What is Behavioral Finance?
  • Market Timing by Mutual Funds
  • Technical Analysis Explained : The Successful Investor's Guide to Spotting Investment Trends and Turning Points

    The Intelligent Investor: The Classic Text on Value Investing

    Financial Statement Analysis: A Practitioner's Guide, 3rd Edition

    Managing Investment Portfolios: A Dynamic Process (CFA Institute Investment Series)

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