Research & practice · Free five-page PDF
Confidence is not competence
Why investor assessments should measure confidence and knowledge separately
A confident answer can conceal a knowledge gap. Hesitation can conceal understanding.
For investor-insight, product and advice-experience teams.
- Understand what the primary research actually found
- Use a four-pattern framework without labelling people
- Design a support test that measures understanding separately
Selected primary references, explicit evidence limits and a practical brief to use with your team.
'Do not know' can reflect low confidence
In the Dutch study, the model attributed part of the observed gender difference in financial literacy to confidence. [1] Treating every 'do not know' as absent knowledge can miss this distinction. Measure confidence and answer performance separately; higher confidence alone is not evidence of better understanding.
See the sources in the report
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