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Psychology

FOMO (Fear of Missing Out)

Apprehension that others are having rewarding experiences from which one is absent (Przybylski et al., 2013). In memecoins, amplified by the asymmetric salience of winner posts versus loser silence. The visible distribution of outcomes is severely skewed toward winners even when the actual distribution is overwhelmingly losses.

See also
Psychology Lottery Effect Overweighting low-probability, high-magnitude outcomes because they are vivid and memorable. Formalized in Kahneman and Tversky's prospect theory as the probability weighting function. WIF, GOAT, and FARTCOIN are three names from a field of 11.5 million tokens that died in 2025 alone. → Psychology Survivorship Bias Drawing conclusions only from data that survived a selection process while the failures are invisible. In memecoins: WIF, GOAT, and FARTCOIN are three names from 11.5 million tokens that died in 2025 alone. The Trending tab surfaces the survivors; the corpses have no panel. → Culture Parasocial Relationship A one-sided perceived intimacy with a media persona (Horton and Wohl, 1956). In CT: the follower experiences a relationship; the KOL operates a broadcast. The parasocial bond makes followers buy faster (trust collapses the deliberation window), hold longer, and refuse counter-evidence. →
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