The Hindu Business Line : Are you long-sighted?

A couple of weeks ago, my wife and I went to a dance concert. The performance by the students of a certain dance school was stunning. I left the concert wondering whether I had a mis-spent childhood. Should I have performed arts instead of spending more time reading then? I suffer from what psychologists call “Hyperopia”. What is it?

It refers to the defect in the eye that makes it difficult to concentrate on near objects. What has that got to do with my regret?

Take my friend, who always wanted to learn playing the violin when he was in school. Instead, he played some local cricket and studied for the rest of the time. He now has enough money to charter a plane and fly to New York City just to listen to Yehudi Menuhin, if the great man were alive today. But he still regrets not learning the violin!

Being far-sighted

My friend’s past decisions have helped him in his career. But he denied himself some fun during that period, which he regrets now. We go through these emotions because we are excessively farsighted — thinking mostly about the future and not the “now”. Psychologists call this behaviour hyperopia.

In one such study, researchers divided students into two groups. One group was asked to recall a time last week when they had to choose between work and pleasure. Those who chose pleasure regretted having done so, while the people who chose work were glad they did so. The second group was asked to recall a time they had to make a similar choice five years ago. Interestingly, the people who partied were happy having done so while those who toiled regretted their decision! Why?

Pleasure of gains

The research concluded that we regret being virtuous in the long-term and wish we had more pleasure then.

There is a parallel here for investors. Some claim that they are in the market for the long-term. They may be denying themselves the pleasure of gains in the short-term, which they may regret in the future!

(The author is an investment strategist.)

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