14/10/2026
Curious investor behaviour –
By Platinum Investment
Do I do that?
Our psychological conditioning hinders successful interaction with the stock market.
The mind tends to use short cuts in all aspects of the collection, weighting and interpretation of “facts”.
By being wary of our instinctive behaviour, we are more likely to avoid common pitfalls.
Kerr Neilson
Curious Investor Behaviour 1 - Framing
Since we fell losses more acutely than gains, people tend to seek positively framed information.
In a 1984 study, physicians were presented with a hypothetical case of an epidemic that wears expected to kill 600 people. Two programs to combat the disease were proposed: program A would result in 200 people being saved, whereas under program B, two-thirds of the 600 would die. 72% of respondents chose program A, even though the results were identical.
How do you frame your decisions - do you take information at face value, or do you question how it I presented?
Curious Investor Behaviour 2 - Anchoring
Faced with uncertainty, investors will grasp at any fixed point of reference when forming opinions.
In a classic experiment, behavioural psychologists Kahneman and Tversky asked two groups to guess the proportion of African nations that make joy the UN. The first group was asked whether the answers was higher or lower than 10%, while the second group was asked where it was higher or lower than 65%. The median response of the first group was 25% and the second group 45%. !
Can you imagine the perils of anchoring investment decisions on completely irrelevant information?
Curious investor behaviour 3 - Loss Aversion
According to empirical evidence, the pain of losing $100 is felt more than twice as much as the pleasure of gaining the same amount (Kahneman and Tversky, 1992).
Sadly, this irrational approach is evident in the Stockmarket. Many investors keep hanging on to losing stocks in the hope that one day, somehow, they will bounce back. Such is the distaste for loss that it causes a mental freeze which renders people incapable of sound judgement.
Loss aversion is a common condition. Think about it - facing a loss, do you sometimes freeze and refuse to acknowledge reality?
Curious Investor Behaviour 4 - Hindsight Bias
The mind seems to retain information in a series of compressed narratives, and to update “history” as new facts come to light.
While efficient in managing memory, this innate habit of hindsight bias can prevent us adequately learning from experience and is this most unhelpful to the task of investment.
Most of us can’t help ourselves - do you ever find yourself wiser after the event?
Curious Investor Behaviour 5 - Confirmation Bias
Once we have made a decision or formed a guideway, we subconsciously emphasise information which reinforces that view; at the same time, we tend to downplay contradictory information.
The confirmation bias is perhaps the most subversive of all the behaviour flaw because it prevents us from arriving at the truth and allows us to wallow in the comfort of our preconceptions and prejudices.
Can we learn without listening to others who have different points of view?
Curious Investor Behaviour 6 - Cognitive Dissonance
When there is a conflict between our beliefs and reality, we tend to to rationalise irrational behaviour.
Cognitive dissonance was first observed by Leon Festinger, a psychologist who studied a cult which believed that’s the earth was going to be destroyed by flood. When the flood didn’t arrive as expected, the cult leaders re- interpreted the evidence to prove that it was their faith and prayers that saved the world.
Investors, too are often guilty of engaging in similar self deception - do you ever find it difficult to let go of an idea or a stock that your are attached to?
Curious Investor Behaviour 7 - Representativeness
Many of us react to the daily avalanche of data by adopting shortcuts - we tend to generalise from a small sample, creating stereotypes and false patterns.
As example of this may be the assumption that Chinese shares had articulated n the recent economic boom in that region. You might be surprised to discover the Shanghai Composite Index had in fact fallen during this time.
Should you think twice before arriving at conclusions in a hurry?
Curious Investor Behaviour 8 - Availability Bias
Vivid, dramatic, and personal relevant events tend to colour our thinking - the more recent and salient the information, the more importance we attach to it.
Availability bias causes investors to assume that companies heavily covered by the media deserve special attention. Unfortunately, distinguishing between noise and information is not always easy. A study by Cornell University in 2001, found that the companies with the highest press coverage in any given year underperformed in the next two years.
Do you allow the limelight to influence your choices?
Curios Investor Behaviour 9 - Over Confidence
According to multiple studies into human behaviour, the majority of people consider themselves superior in most day-to-day activities - for example, over 90% of drivers believe they are better than average.!
Over confidence is a particularly dangerous trait in the field of investment. It leads to over estimation of one’s knowledge and under estimation of risks. In the late nighties, many investors enjoyed exceptional paper orbits in technology sticks and attributed their success to their ability.
As one astute observer put it, aim for Timid forecasts, and bold choices. In other words, underestimate your knowledge and overestimate risk.
Curious Investor Behaviours 10 - Herding
When investors are uncertain about the value if financial instruments, they typically default to a herding impulse; part of our evolutionary heritage that served us well in the past.
Sadly, herds are rules by the majority, so prevailing mood predominates. It takes s healthy dose of scepticism and nerves of steel to resist the temptation to run with the herd.
Perhaps we ought to keep reminding ourselves that a consensus view isn’t always necessarily right.
Curious Investor Behaviour 11 - Self Attribution Bias
A trait known as self-attribution bias presents a serious challenge to learning. It refers to situations where we attribute good outcomes to our skill, and bad outcomes to misfortune.
For example, a random streak of luck in the market can fuel a belief in our ability and lead to us taking more risks - until inevitably, our fortunes are reversed.
If we out our mistakes down to bad luck, what hope do we have of ever learning from them?
Curious Investor Behaviour 12 - Conservatism Bias
People tend to cling tenaciously to an opinion. Even when circumstances have changed, most people find it difficult to adjust their view.
A study by Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein in 2002, reveals that analysts’ forecasts typically trail reality - in fact most ‘forecasts’ are very good at telling you what just happened.
Perhaps we should pay heed to Darwin’s maxim: adaptability, not strength, is the key characteristic of survival.
Curious Investor Behaviour 13 - Retrospectascope
We found the tendency to look ahead through a rear-view mirror so delicious that we registered our own name for it - the Retrospectascope.
It comes into Olay when we indulge in revisiting history to extrapolate future outcomes. Needless to say, this behavioural bias stands in the way of rational investing.
Yet isn’t it just wonderful to fantasise about what could have been?
Curious Investor Behaviour 14 - Phase myopia
At different phases of the market, our perspectives change.
In the steepening down phase there’s a tendency to take an ever - narrower view of the facts, focusing on near - term risk rather than longer - term rewards Conversely, a developing bull market inspires an ever - more extravagant view of opportunities.
Have you ever found yourself suffering from this condition?
Curious Investor Behaviour 15 - Heuristic Simplification
According to Nobel Laureate Herbert Simon, people are so swamped with information that they react consciously to only a tiny part of it.
We adopt rules of thumb instead of absorbing the entire data. In general, shortfalls serve us well, but the simplifying processes that are normally efficient time savers can have disastrous consequences in the world of investment. Subjective and selective calculations produce distortions and errors of judgement.
Do you ever find yourself seduced by the convenience of shortcuts?
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