Description:

"The fear of missing out (FOMO) is a new name for a concept deeply embedded in human nature: that by choosing to do something we're going to miss out on something else that is even better. In cognitive psychology FOMO is known as loss aversion. Loss aversion refers to people's tendency to strongly prefer avoiding losses to acquiring gains. Most studies suggest that losses are twice as powerful, psychologically, as gains. Basically FOMO is the losing out on what others are currently experiencing and valuing it higher than the gain of your current experience. An early example of FOMO comes from Tulipmania in Holland in the 1590s. Seeing and hearing others buy into the promises of tulip profitability encouraged others to do the same. Nobody wanted to be the one missing out.

When you lose something it hurts and often to avoid this negative emotion strange behavior may occur. This talk will give insight into why FOMO occurs and illustrate that it happens not only to Millennials anxious about what experiences their peers are having, but also to those making business and investment decisions.