Sammanfattning Titel: Ska man klappa börsen med- eller mothårs? Författare: Josef Dotevall och Kristoffer Ekengren Landenmark Handledare: Katarina Eriksson Bakgrund: De allra flesta med ett någorlunda intresse eller erfarenhet från den finansiella marknaden har hört talas om den effektiva marknadshypotesen. Den säger att det inte är möjligt att överavkasta marknaden över tid genom att systematiskt implementera investeringsstrategier. Samtidigt visar forskning om psykologiska faktorer på att individer på aktiemarknaden emellertid kan reagera irrationellt och att det därav går att överavkasta marknaden genom att dra nytta av de felaktiga prissättningar som kan uppstå på marknaden. Därför blir det intressant att testa huruvida en implementering av momentum- och contrarianstrategier vid investeringsbeslut kan leda till en överavkastning på indexet OMX Stockholm Mid Cap PI. Detta är även intressant för att ingen tidigare studie har testat dessa strategiers effekt på detta index. Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka ifall det är möjligt att uppnå överavkastning på OMX Stockholm Mid Cap PI genom att implementera momentumoch contrarianstrategier som investeringsstrategier under perioden 2012 till 2021. Metod: En kvantitativ metod med en deduktiv ansats tillämpades vid genomförandet av studien. Åtta fiktiva olika portföljer sattes samman, fyra contrarianportföljer och fyra momentumportföljer, med bolag som varit en del av indexet OMX Stockholm Mid Cap PI under perioden 2012–2021. Varje portföljkategori delades sedan in i olika urvalsoch innehavsperioder. Varje portfölj innehöll fem bolag åt gången. Sedermera utfördes statistiska tester för att analysera portföljernas avkastning och riskjusterade avkastning. Resultat: Tre av studiens åtta sammansatta portföljer uppvisade en avkastning som var signifikant högre än jämförelseindexet. Resterande fem portföljer uppvisade en avkastning som var signifikant lägre än index. Endast en av portföljerna hade en högre riskjusterad avkastning än jämförelseindexet. / Abstract Title: Should you bet for or against the stock market? Authors: Josef Dotevall och Kristoffer Ekengren Landenmark Supervisor: Katarina Eriksson Background: Almost everyone who has an interest in finance or have studied some form of finance has heard of the efficient market hypothesis. The efficient market hypothesis says that the market is priced correctly and that all actors on the market are rational. However, previous studies about psychological factors says that actors on the stock market sometimes act irrational, which makes it possible to reach excess returns. Therefore, it is interesting to test the momentum and contrarian strategies potential effects on the index OMX Stockholm Mid Cap PI when no previous study has explored these strategies effect on this specific index. Purpose: The study aims to analyse the possibility of reaching excess return on OMX Stockholm Mid Cap PI by implementing momentum and contrarian strategies as investment strategies in the period between 2012 and 2021. Methodology: The study has utilized a deductive and quantitative approach to complete the aim of the report. Eight fictive portfolios were put together, four contrarian portfolios and four momentum portfolios, containing stocks included in the OMXSPI Mid Cap. Each portfolio category then was divided into different selection and holding periods. Each portfolio always contained five companies at the same time. Then statistical tests were performed to analyse the portfolios returns and risk adjusted returns. Conclusion: Three of the eight portfolios showed a statistically significant excess return compared with the benchmark index. The other five portfolios showed a significantly lower return than the benchmark index. Only one portfolio performed a higher riskadjusted return than the benchmark based on the Sharpe ratio.

Gamma Ray Burst (GRB) are very bright cosmological explosions signalling the catastrophic formation of a black hole. Therefore, they act like real light beacons that could be detected through-out the Universe and be used as probes to study the contents and phases of the early Universe. However, only a handful sample is known so far. This is for two reasons: instrumental biases that may prevent their detection and the difficulty to find a near Infrared counterpart preventing their redshift measurements. The wide-field trigger camera ECLAIRs to-fly on-board the Space-based multi-band Variable Object Monitor (SVOM) mission will detect γ-/X-ray transients down to energies of 4 keV, as well as creating an alert for multi-wavelength/messenger follow-ups. My study focuses on analysing how ECLAIRs will detect GRBs, and more particularly high-redshift GRBs, based on a well-selected sample of GRBs with redshift measurement associated (see Section 2). Studying how ECLAIRs will see them may help identifying possible instrument biases as well as common observational characteristics for such GRBs that may be used in turn to recognise such special GRBs once SVOM will be launched. Using software tools developed within the ECLAIRs collaboration, I built an end-to-end simulator which I used to simulate the detection by ECLAIRs of the GRBs in the sample at their original redshift and higher redshifts (up to z = 15). I implemented a suited version of the count-rate trigger on-board ECLAIRs to assess the detectability of these bursts, and I retrieved their duration over the background when detected (see Section 2). The analysis shows good performance for detecting high-redshift GRBs in the centre of the Field of View (fully-coded), but significantly reduced, in comparison to other GRBs, for partially-coded detection. 5 of the GRBs with z > 3.83 present a successful detection up to at least z = 15 (see Section 3). The retrieved rest-frame duration of a GRB remains constant for several redshifts in the simulations if the detected burst did not present a low-flux emission in their lightcurve, which is common for high redshift GRBs. On the other hand, if the original lightcurve of a burst presents this low-flux emission, it becomes buried in noise when simulating it at higher redshifts. This confirms the tip-of-the-iceberg detection bias which depends on the lightcurve burst morphology, and it may explain why the current sample seems to present lower burst durations at higher redshifts.

The study was based on cognitive biases with the aim of investigating the extent to which the individual's physical appearance affects the hiring process, and whether individuals who are perceived as more attractive are ascribed more positive characteristics. The study was conducted with a quantitative method, where the data collection was done via an online survey with 62 respondents, the majority of whom had previous experience of decision- making in a recruitment context. The respondents were asked to rate perceived attractiveness, characteristics and employability in four different individuals by looking at different facial images. All questions and rating scales on the questionnaire were based on the validated instruments Competence and warmth scale (CWS) and Job Suitability Scale (JSS). The results showed that more attractive people have a higher mean value than less attractive people in CWS and JSS. It was concluded that the individual's appearance has a significant impact in the hiring process, and that there is a tendency to attribute more positive characteristics to people who are considered more attractive compared to those who are judged to be less attractive. / Studien utgick från kognitiva fördomar med syftet att undersöka i vilken grad individens fysiska utseende påverkar anställningsprocessen, samt om individer som uppfattas som mer attraktiva tillskrivs mer positiva egenskaper. Studien genomfördes med en kvantitativ metod, där datainsamlingen skedde via en online-enkät med 62 respondenter, varav majoriteten hade tidigare erfarenhet av beslutsfattande inom rekryteringssammanhang. Respondenterna fick skatta upplevd attraktivitet, egenskaper och anställningsbarhet hos fyra olika individer genom att titta på olika ansiktsbilder. Samtliga frågor och skattningsskalor på enkäten utgick utifrån de validerade instrumenten Competence and warmth scale (CWS) och Job Suitability Scale (JSS). Resultatet visade att mer attraktiva personer har högre medelvärde än mindre attraktiva personer i CWS och JSS. Sammanfattningsvis drogs slutsatsen att individens utseende har en betydande inverkan i anställningsprocessen, samt att det finns en tendens att attribuera mer positiva egenskaper till personer som anses vara mer attraktiva jämfört med de som bedöms som mindre attraktiva.

Sociala medier har utvecklats till kraftfulla plattformar för informationsutbyte som många människor förlitar sig på för att hitta information för potentiella investeringar. Sociala medier är relativt okontrollerade och innehåller en stor del falsk information. Syftet med studien är att beskriva och analysera sambandet mellan information från sociala medier och privata investerares beslut på den finansiella marknaden och att analysera fem beteendeekonomiska fördomar, flockbeteende, överdriven självsäkerhet, förankring, rädslan att missa något och ekokammare, och analysera vilken roll de spelar i beslutsprocessen från sociala medier till investeringsbeslut. Den teoretiska referensramen och det empiriska underlaget utgår från det beteendeekonomiska paradigmet och studier om information från sociala medier och investeringsbeslut för att skapa en övergripande bild över sambandet mellan sociala medier och investeringsbeslut. En kvantitativ forskningsmetod tillämpades och data samlades in genom en enkätundersökning som distribuerades på sociala medier och via Mittuniversitetets egna kanaler. Sammantaget svarade 163 respondenter och efter att datauppsättningen rensades från felaktig och ofullständig data kvarstod 125 respondenter. Datan analyserades sedan i frekvenstabeller och regressions- och moderationsanalyser. Studiens resultat tyder på att investerare som i högre utsträckning förlitar sig på information från sociala medier som informationskälla tenderar att fatta mindre framgångsrika investeringsbeslut. Dessutom indikerar resultaten att detta negativa samband förstärks av förankring och rädslan att missa något. / Social media has evolved into powerful information sharing platforms that many people rely on to find information for potential investments. Social media is relatively uncontrolled and contains a large amount of false information. The purpose of the study is to describe and analyze the relationship between information from social media and private investors' decisions in the financial market and to analyze five behavioral economic biases, herd behavior, overconfidence, anchoring, the fear of missing out and echo chambers, and analyze the role they play in the decision-making process from social media to investment decisions. The theoretical frame of reference and the empirical basis are based on the behavioral economic paradigm and studies on information from social media and investment decisions to create an overall picture of the connection between social media and investment decisions. A quantitative research method was applied and data was collected through a survey that was distributed on social media and via Mid Sweden University's channels. Overall, 163 respondents responded and after the data set was cleaned of incorrect and incomplete data, 125 respondents remained. The data were then analyzed in frequency tables and regression and moderation analyses. The study's findings suggest that investors who rely more heavily on information from social media as a source of information tend to make less successful investment decisions. Furthermore, the results indicate that this negative relationship is reinforced by anchoring and the fear of missing out.

Climate change poses the most significant threat to sustainable tourism in the 21st century, impacting destinations globally with abnormal weather phenomena. Climate change not only affects the environment but also our mental health. Extreme weather events linked to climate change increase the risk of anxiety, depressive disorders, and other mental health issues, particularly among young people such as Gen-Z. Nevertheless, climate change anxiety has shown potential to motivate eco-friendly actions, including travel choices. The current research gap exists concerning how climate change anxiety influences travel decision-making. Understanding this relationship is crucial for comprehending the psychological factors driving environmentally responsible decisions. In the present study, the protection motivation theory offers the theoretical lenses for understanding responses to fear stimuli and the motivation for protective actions. This study utilized a nonequivalent quasi-experimental design with focus groups to investigate the impact of climate change anxiety on travel choices among Gen-Z university students. Two groups, a treatment group and a comparison group, were exposed to different climate change videos designed to evoke higher or lower levels of anxiety. While the video shown to the treatment group successfully heightened climate change anxiety, the study found that increased anxiety did not necessarily result in sustainable travel choices. Instead, it often led to feelings of apathy and desensitization. The research identified lack of self-efficacy, cost and time as the main barriers for university students to consider more environmentally travels. It highlights the need for better climate change communication to inspire positive action, emphasizing a vision of a better future. The study’s results offer a baseline for future research aimed at understanding effective climate change communication strategies that prompt pro- environmental actions. Interventions aimed at reshaping travel decision-making, which take into account climate change anxiety and evolutionary biases influencing travel choices, can offer valuable insights for public campaigns promoting sustainable consumption among Gen Z. By nudging tourists and making sustainability the default choice, these interventions could effectively encourage more eco-friendly travel decisions.

Ein bedeutender Effekt der numerischen Kognition, der Operational Momentum Effekt, beschreibt die Beobachtung, dass Proband*innen das Ergebnis von Additionen überschätzen und das Ergebnis von Subtraktionen unterschätzen. Diverse theoretische Modelle wurden vorgebracht, um diesen Effekt zu erklären. Diese Modelle unterscheiden sich in Bezug darauf, ob sie räumliche Prozesse während des Kopfrechnens annehmen. Einige Studien haben seitdem Belege für eine Verknüpfung zwischen räumlicher Verarbeitung und Kopfrechnen liefern können. Die vorliegende Dissertation zielt darauf ab, räumliche Aufmerksamkeitsverschiebungen beim Kopfrechnen in drei Studien (Studie 1, Studie 3, Studie 4) und einer Kontrollstudie (Studie 2) vertieft zu untersuchen. Studie 1 zeigt, dass zwei-stellige Additionen mit Aufmerksamkeitsverschiebungen nach rechts assoziiert sind, während zwei-stellige Subtraktionen nicht mit Verschiebungen nach links einhergehen. Studie 3 liefert Hinweise für Aufmerksamkeitsverschiebungen in der Antwortphase von approximativen Rechenprozessen. Jedoch wurden ich dieser Studie keine Verschiebungen im Zeitfenster zwischen der Aufgabenpräsentation und der Antwortselektion gefunden. In Studie 4 wurden mittels steady-state visuell evozierten Potenzialen keinerlei räumliche Verschiebungen, sowohl im arithmetischen Kontext als auch in der Kontrollaufgabe gefunden. Die Kontrollstudie (Studie 2) untersuchte den Einfluss von kognitiver Belastung auf räumliche Aufmerksamkeit, wobei jedoch kein solcher Einfluss nachweisbar war. Zusammen unterstützen die Ergebnisse der vorliegenden Dissertation die Hypothese, dass räumliche und arithmetische Verarbeitung funktionell assoziiert sind (Studie 1, Studie 3). Andere Ergebnisse sind jedoch nicht so einfach mit den bestehenden Theorien vereinbar. Die Nulleffekte von Studie 2 und 4 betonen die Rolle methodischer Aspekte bei der Untersuchung räumlicher Aufmerksamkeitsverschiebungen, wie zum Beispiel die Wahl geeigneter Baseline-Aufgaben. / A hallmark effect of numerical cognition, the operational momentum effect, describes the finding that participants tend to overestimate the result of addition problems and underestimate the result of subtraction problems. Several theoretical accounts proposed to explain that effect differ with regard to whether they assume spatial contributions to mental arithmetic. Several studies have since then provided evidence for an association between spatial processing and mental arithmetic. The present dissertation aimed at further enlarging upon this knowledge by investigating spatial biases in mental arithmetic via several behavioural and neurophysiological experimental paradigms. This thesis comprises three studies (Study 1, Study 3, Study 4) and a control study (Study 2). Study 1 demonstrated that spatial biases to the right can be observed in the context of two-digit addition processing, while no biases to the left were observed for two-digit subtraction processing. Study 3 provided evidence for spatial biases during the response stage of approximate arithmetic processing. Yet, no biases were observed in the time window between the task presentation and response selection. In Study 4, no biases could be measured via steady-state visually evoked potentials, neither in an arithmetic context nor in a control task. The control study (Study 2) investigated the impact of cognitive load on spatial biases. Still, no such impact could be shown in Study 2. Together, the results of the present dissertation provide support for the notion of a functional association between spatial and arithmetic processing (Study 1, Study 3). Nevertheless, several other findings are difficult to reconcile with the existing theoretical accounts. This implies that other mechanisms might be involved. Finally, the null effects of Study 2 and 4 highlighted the role of methodological aspects, like the choice of appropriate baseline tasks, when investigating attentional biases.

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The aim of this study is to examine Swedish social work students’ norms and values towards homosexuality and intimate partner violence in homosexual relationships, in order to establish an increased understanding for whether social work students contribute to or challenge the heteronormative beliefs that can occur in social work. Previous studies have shown that professional social workers tend to perceive individuals who are homosexual and exposed to intimate partner violence as less serious than individuals who are in a heterosexual relationship, and therefore individuals who are homosexual are more likely to receive a lesser support and treatment. Furthermore, studies show that heteronormativity is prevalent within social work education. In addition, studies show that social work education further needs to implement different sexualities and intimate partner violence, regardless the individual’s sexual orientation in the syllabus.The chosen method for this study was focus group interviews with a vignette about intimate partner violence, which was executed with social work students from two different universities in Sweden. The empirical material has been analyzed using previous studies and theoretical perspectives such as queer theory, heteronormativity and gender. The empirical material shows that social work students in Sweden do not show any heteronormative beliefs, however they tend to show and maintain biases about gender. Furthermore, the empirical material indicate that social work students have a general knowledge about intimate partner violence, however they disclose that they do not possess knowledge about the differences in intimate partner violence regarding homosexual relationships. Lastly the empirical material shows that social work students depicts that heteronormativity is prevalent within social work education, furthermore social work students claims the necessity of that the syllabus further implement a content regarding intimate partner violence and how the faculty refer to individuals who do not identify themselves as heterosexuals.

Le début du XXI siècle a été marqué par deux épisodes de flambées des prix des produits alimentaires au niveau mondial, respectivement en 2007-08 et 2010-11. Ces hausses de prix ont aggravé le niveau d’insécurité alimentaire dans de nombreux pays en développement et ont engendré des manifestations et troubles sociaux dans certains pays. Déterminer les facteurs qui contribuent à accroitre le risque d’insécurité alimentaire et comprendre les mécanismes qui sous-tendent l’éclatement d’une crise alimentaire pourraient permettre d’améliorer l’efficacité des politiques de prévention. Cette thèse contribue à cet objectif. Le chapitre 2 estime les différentes composantes de la variabilité de la disponibilité alimentaire en utilisant les données désagrégées des bilans alimentaires. Nos résultats suggèrent que plus de la moitié de la variabilité de la disponibilité alimentaire d’un pays dépend de chocs propres au pays. Les chocs globaux représentent environ 1% de la variabilité totale.Le chapitre 3 montre que l’impact du commerce international sur la variabilité de la disponibilité alimentaire dépend du portefeuille d’accords commerciaux détenu par le pays. Le chapitre 4 utilise le cadre théorique des paniques bancaires et s’appuie sur des travaux portant sur le risque perçu et sur les biais cognitifs pour modéliser le comportement d’achat alimentaire du consommateur. Nous montrons comment l’amplification sociale du risque peut conduire au stockage de précaution et à une crise alimentaire auto-réalisatrice. Nous mettons aussi en évidence l’utilité sociale d’une information publique / The beginning of the 21st century is marked by two episodes of global food price spikes in 2007-08 and 2010-11, respectively. These price increases have worsened the level of food insecurity in many developing countries and have led to social unrest in some countries. Identifying the factors that contribute to increase the risk of food insecurity and understand the mechanisms that underpin the outbreak of a food crisis could help to improve food policy management.This thesis contributes to this objective. Chapter 2 estimates the different components of food supply variability by using disaggregated data of food balance sheets. Our results suggest that more than half of food supply variability is caused by country-specific shocks. Global shocks account for about 1% of the total variability.Chapter 3 shows that the impact of international trade on food supply variability depends on the country's portfolio of trade agreements. Chapter 4 uses the theoretical framework of bank panics and builds on work on perceived risk and cognitive biases to model consumer food purchasing behavior under uncertainty. We show how social amplification of risk can lead to precautionary storage and in fine self-fulfilling food crisis. We also highlight the social utility of reliable public information. Finally, Chapter 5 examines the impact of dietary composition on the probability of occurrence of social unrest in case of soaring world food prices. Our results suggest that the cereal concentration of the diet increases significantly the probability of social unrest.