This work, by analyzing the behavior of potential financial analysts, aims to show the actual ability to assess businesses in a neutral way, without being influenced by external factors that are not technically relevant to the evaluation process. The type of mental representation that an individual tends to build in solving a decision problem can produce inconsistent decisions due to stereotypes that can influence the decision-making process. The research hypothesis of this paper is the following: the decision-making process of financial analysts is influenced by external labels (in this case, the company name) in their evaluation process. The survey has been conducted on university students in an experiment through the submission of questionnaires to verify if a simple name change affects the company assessment. The answers show that the effect of name recognition has a significant influence on company evaluation.
Keywords: Pygmalion effect, investors, neutrality, decision-making process, rationality.