hinsafdar

An investor who is more risk averse with respect to potential negative outcomes than potential positive outcomes most likely exhibits:

A) gambler’s fallacy.

B) mental accounting.

C) loss aversion.

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Loss aversion is exhibited by an investor who dislikes a loss more than he likes an equal gain. That is, the investor’s risk preferences are asymmetric. Gambler’s fallacy is the belief that recent past outcomes affect the probability of future outcomes. Mental accounting refers to mentally classifying investments in separate accounts rather than considering them from a portfolio perspective.

hinsafdar

Investor overreaction that has been documented in securities markets is most likely attributable to investors exhibiting:

A) risk aversion.

B) loss aversion.

C) conservatism.

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Loss aversion refers to the tendency for investors to dislike downside risks more than upside risks creating asymmetrical risk preferences. This dislike of losses may be a cause of investor overreaction. The standard economic notion of risk aversion assumes symmetric risk preferences. Conservatism is the behavioral bias whereby investors react slowly to new information and is unlikely to cause overreaction.

hinsafdar

In behavioral finance theory, how is loss aversion most accurately defined? For gains and losses of equal amounts, investors:

A) dislike losses more than they like gains.

B) like gains more than they dislike losses.

C) dislike for losses and like for gains are proportionate.

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Behavioral finance proposes that investors are loss averse. Loss aversion means investors dislike losses more than they like gains of the same amount.

hinsafdar

The idea that uninformed traders, when faced with unclear information, observe the actions of informed traders to make decisions, is referred to as:

A) information cascades.

B) herding behavior.

C) narrow framing.

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“Information cascades” refers to uninformed traders watching the actions of informed traders when making investment decisions. Herding behavior is when trading occurs in clusters, not necessarily driven by information. Narrow framing refers to investors viewing events in isolation.