The Physiology of Emotional and Irrational Investing

Table of contents

1. Cover
2. Title
3. Copyright
4. Dedication
5. Contents
6. List of figures
7. Acknowledgements
8. 1 Introduction
   1. Working out Wall Street: taming animal spirits
   2. Working out Wall Street: structure of the book
   3. Brief introductions
      1. A brief guide to trading
      2. A brief guide to the brain
      3. A brief guide to investor emotions
   4. Homo biologicus
   5. Predicting market sentiment
   6. Lunch is for wimps
   7. Allostatic load
   8. Trader physiology: key takeaways
   9. Special feature: money, seduction, profit and panic
   10. Special feature: the modern James Bond
9. 2 Money – a love story
   1. Money – a love story
   2. The seduction of money
   3. Money: the ‘desire of desire’
   4. Addicted to trading?
   5. ‘If you’re in trouble, double’
   6. Trading high
   7. Thrill junkies or risk takers?
   8. Animal spirits
      1. The winner effect
      2. House money effect
      3. Androgenic priming
      4. The anticipatory effect/challenge effect
      5. The framing effect
      6. The charisma/gatekeeper effect
      7. Anchoring and cognitive dissonance
      8. Bias
      9. Representativeness and availability heuristic
      10. Over-optimism
      11. Belief perseverance
      12. Herding and cognitive dissonance
      13. Excitation transfer
      14. Churning and overtrading
   9. Hot money
   10. A golden age of ignorance?
   11. A glitch in the matrix
   12. From Wall Street to Washington
   13. Is behavioural finance horseshit?
   14. Trader physiology: key takeaways
   15. Special feature: ‘the common denominator for fraud is opportunity’
   16. Special feature: breaking news
10. 3 Trading long or short on stress?
    1. Testosterone: the alpha hormone
    2. Alpha fraudsters and susceptible followers
    3. Big men, big lies
    4. Testosterone: the face of fraud?
    5. The warrior gene
    6. Nature or nurture?
    7. The dangers of dopamine
    8. Hardwired for success?
    9. Known unknowns
    10. Early warning systems
    11. The (often) uninformed retail investor: exploding ETFs
    12. From active to passive
    13. ETFs vs. human nature
    14. A pressure to conform
    15. Higher earners … higher pressure?
    16. Stocks and suicides
    17. Embracing hedonism
    18. Weakened resistance
    19. ‘I have to race the race’
    20. Addicted to stress
    21. High stress, low control
    22. Workaholics and adrenaline junkies
    23. Trader physiology: key takeaways
    24. Special feature: hazing – from sports to stocks
    25. Special feature: lunch isn’t for wimps
11. 4 Taming animal spirits
    1. Nature vs. the markets
    2. Circannual hormonal fluctuations
    3. Loans and lunar cycles
    4. Trader physiology: key optimisation strategies
       1. #1 Traders and investors: born to run
       2. #2 Anabolic arbitrage: lift heavy to trade smart
       3. #3 Working out makes you smarter
       4. #4 Hedge your exposure to stress and go long on sleep
       5. #5 Hungry for success? Eat right to trade and invest better
       6. #6 Use music as a performance tool
       7. #7 Harness the power of nature
       8. #8 We are hardwired to herd
       9. #9 Embrace hedonism
       10. #10 Willpower is finite; use it wisely
    5. Trader physiology: key takeaways
    6. Special feature: maturity, mindfulness and the management of exuberance
    7. Special feature: anabolic arbitrage
12. Glossary
13. References
14. Index