Penpushers and Hotheads

This chapter outlines the behavioral theories of attractiveness. Complements are brought to the investor's behavior through empirical studies concerning the venture capitalist. In comparative studies on venture capital around the world, two psychological archetypes have been put forward: penpusher and hothead. The “penpusher” psychological type is put forth to explain the poor performances of venture capital, in Canada for example. The “hothead” type corresponds to a behavioral profile of entrepreneurial culture, whose use is very significant outside behavioral economics through the psychological profits introduced by Schumpeter and taken into consideration when analyzing the evolutionary economics of innovation. The theory of behavioral finances is dedicated to the behavior of an investor in the stock market, primarily. Investors' behavior refers to heuristic and bias models, prospect theory and the role of emotions in the stock market investor.