If you have watched a fintech product demo that includes anything remotely related to financial psychology, you might hear the word “personality” thrown around a lot. For example, I heard one very confident salesperson recently refer to his platform as measuring “investor personality” when the tech was measuring the client’s current feelings about investing. Personality characteristics predict a wide range of future outcomes regarding human behavior. The Big Five (or OCEAN) model of personality has been …
What is a swim meet? Maybe you’ve never been to one, but I’ll bet that you have a concept in your head for what a swim meet is like. It may not be accurate or have been created from any direct experience, but you have some idea, or schema, for what a swim meet includes and doesn’t include. You’re probably thinking of a pool, swimmers, timers, lane ropes, and cheering. Your concept of a swim …
Our latest financial psychology term describes how we can sometimes fall prey to errors in decision-making about others. The American Psychological Association defines fundamental attribution error this way: the tendency to overestimate the degree to which an individual’s behavior is determined by his or her abiding personal characteristics, attitudes, or beliefs and, correspondingly, to minimize the influence of the surrounding situation on that behavior (e.g., financial or social pressures). Your neighbor who is still unemployed …
Article Title: Aging and Altruism: A Meta-Analysis Publication: Psychology and Aging Authors: Erika P. Sparrow, Liyana T. Swirsky, Farrah Kudus, and Julia Spaniol Older = More Altruistic? Previous research and theories related to altruism and aging have suggested that most of us become more selfless and “nicer” as we age. Altruism is generally defined as a tendency towards decisions that promote the welfare of others at some cost to ourselves. Most scientific research has shown that …
Independent of our unique individual personality traits, values, and attitudes, we know that financial decisions and behaviors have the most significant impact on achieving money goals. Carrie Rattle, CEO & Founder of Behavioral Cents, is a financial therapist and coach who works to engage clients in exploring their money beliefs with the ultimate goal of helping to optimize their financial behaviors. In the brief conversation below, we explore how Carrie uses behavioral assessments in …

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