Research Café 1 (2011) – Dr John Coates: hormonal influences on risk taking

“These people were not like this before the bubble, and they were not like it afterwards. Something was happening to them when they were making above-average profits that was changing them.”

John Coates, Senior Research Fellow, University of Cambridge and former Wall Street Trader.

Speaking at the Daedalus Trust / Brain Mind Forum Research Café, held 7 October 2011, Magdalen College, Oxford.

“During bull markets, and in particular the dotcom bubble, traders on the floor had started to be – euphoric,  delusional, they had racing thoughts, diminished need for sleep, they seemed a lot hornier than they used to be and their appetite for risk expanded exponentially. And the risk-reward trade-offs, the positions they were putting on were deteriorating.

“The important thing is – it’s not that Wall Street selects for this kind of person. These people were not like this before the bubble, and they were not like it afterwards. Something was happening to them when they were making above-average profits that was changing them.”