The optimism bias is the tendency to judge one’s own risk as
less than the risk of others. In the present study we found that
also finance professionals (N = 60) displayed an optimism
bias when forecasting the return of an investment made by
themselves or by a colleague of the same expertise. Using a
multidimensional approach to the assessment of risk
perception, we found that participants’ forecasts were biased
not because they judged negative consequences as less likely
for themselves, but because they were overconfident in their
ability to avoid and control them.
