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From the people I've talked to it seems to be mostly a lack of understanding. They often self-describe as people who don't know anything about personal finance beyond earning a paycheck and paying bills. They see trading stocks as a step forward.

The concept of diversified risk is not something they are familiar with at all, so they don't see the issue. Many feel comfortable trading consumer company stocks because pop culture and consumer technology are things they have opinions on. And for many it seems like the key to success in trading is finding some insight to bet on, like "everyone loves Netflix, Comcast is doomed," or finding nascent categories like bitcoin or weed. The lack awareness of the complexity of market success makes it harder to grasp why indexes are a more reliable investment strategy.