Forget making license plates. Put these guys who are behind bars to work making money to pay for their incarceration.
LONDON (Reuters) – “Wanted: psychopaths to make a killing in the markets.”
Such an advert will not be appearing in the world’s newspapers any time soon, but it may have a ring of truth after research revealed the best wheeler-dealers could well be “functional psychopaths.”
A team of U.S. scientists has found the emotionally impaired are more willing to gamble for high stakes and that people with brain damage may make good financial decisions, the Times newspaper reported Monday.
In a study of investors’ behavior 41 people with normal IQs were asked to play a simple investment game. Fifteen of the group had suffered lesions on the areas of the brain that affect emotions.
The result was those with brain damage outperformed those without.
The scientists found emotions led some of the group to avoid risks even when the potential benefits far outweighed the losses, a phenomenon known as myopic loss aversion.
One of the researchers, Antione Bechara, an associate professor of neurology at the University of Iowa, said the best stock market investors might plausibly be called “functional psychopaths.”
Fellow author, Baba Shiv of Stanford Graduate School of Business said many company chiefs and top lawyers may also show they share the same trait.
“Emotions serve an adaptive role in speeding up the decision-making process,” said Shiv.
“However, there are circumstances in which a naturally occurring emotional response must be inhibited, so that a deliberate and potentially wiser decision can be made.”
The study, published in June in the journal Psychological Science, was conducted by a team of researchers from Stanford University, Carnegie Mellon University, and the University of Iowa.
It’s the kind of insight that doesn’t really lead
to any conclusions of note, though. I remember
reading decades ago a similar conclusion about
surgeons, that they were functioning psychopaths,
etc. Self-centeredness, a certain lack of of
affect, allows you to succeed. Big deal. Says more
about “success” than it does about the succeeders, I think.
Hardly tells us anything that wasnt obvious, as interesting as it is to have it scientifically proven. It’s obvious people with emotional detachment are more likley to take risks.. because really, what does it matter?
Remember that guy, Nick Leeson who brought down Barings Bank with his out-of-control investing? Just looking at him on TV, I remember wondering at the time if he was a psychopath. What’s amazing is that someone at Barings didn’t red-flag the guy.
But I know that many psychopaths are pretty good as passing themselves off as, not just normal – but exceptional. It explains why bosses, CEOs, etc seem to be far more dysfuntional than average workers.
So, all these stock wiz are from Vulcan….