3 ms·

"Our results suggest that signals from the body ... contribute to success in the markets" Does it suggest that physiological emotions help traders make good de

by tlb 10y ago

"Our results suggest that signals from the body ... contribute to success in the markets" Does it suggest that physiological emotions help traders make good decisions? Or does it suggest that conscious awareness of physiological emotions helps traders compensate for gut biases and make more rational decisions?

Taek 10y ago
I'm strongly guessing the latter. Panic selling is a great example of your gut reaction losing you extraordinary amounts of money. If you are aware of the fight-or-flight, it's probably easier to convince yourself to think twice.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
tomhoward 10y ago
The authors don‘t draw any conclusions either way ("Our study, being field work, could not establish causation"), but they seem to lean toward the former with this: Traders in the financial world often speak of the importance of gut feelings for choosing profitable trades. By this they mean that subtle physiological changes in their bodies provide cues helping them rapidly select from a range of possible trades the one that just ‘feels right’. Our findings suggest that the gut feelings informing this decision are more than the mythical entities of financial lore - they are real physiological signals, valuable ones at that. The suggestion here is that there is a way in which the mind/body are able to rapidly process large amounts of information, beyond conscious analysis/calculation, and report an answer as a "gut feeling", and that the people who have a stronger ability to sense their physiological functions are the people for whom this mechanism is more accurate. This notion seems analogous with the thinking behind practices like meditation and other mind+body "tuning in" exercises that have long been used in martial arts training to develop better spatial awareness and more precise reflexes.

3 ms·

"Our results suggest that signals from the body ... contribute to success in the markets" Does it suggest that physiological emotions help traders make good de

by tlb 10y ago

Taek 10y ago
I'm strongly guessing the latter. Panic selling is a great example of your gut reaction losing you extraordinary amounts of money. If you are aware of the fight-or-flight, it's probably easier to convince yourself to think twice.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
tomhoward 10y ago
The authors don‘t draw any conclusions either way ("Our study, being field work, could not establish causation"), but they seem to lean toward the former with this: Traders in the financial world often speak of the importance of gut feelings for choosing profitable trades. By this they mean that subtle physiological changes in their bodies provide cues helping them rapidly select from a range of possible trades the one that just ‘feels right’. Our findings suggest that the gut feelings informing this decision are more than the mythical entities of financial lore - they are real physiological signals, valuable ones at that. The suggestion here is that there is a way in which the mind/body are able to rapidly process large amounts of information, beyond conscious analysis/calculation, and report an answer as a "gut feeling", and that the people who have a stronger ability to sense their physiological functions are the people for whom this mechanism is more accurate. This notion seems analogous with the thinking behind practices like meditation and other mind+body "tuning in" exercises that have long been used in martial arts training to develop better spatial awareness and more precise reflexes.