Any psychologist on this forum?

Discussion in 'Psychology' started by cashmoney69, Aug 10, 2006.

  1. Honor your feelings? Isn't that what people who murder others do?
     
    #31     Aug 14, 2006
  2. eagle

    eagle

    1000 wolves. :D

     
    #32     Aug 14, 2006
  3. zdreg

    zdreg

    you also sound like you are a product of the american feely good system of education which is mired in moral relativism.
    in COM rebutted everyone of KA_LDP points but since he used the word boy his rebuttals are valueless according to u.. no backbone here. no stiff upper lip.

    this kind of thinking if pervasive does not bode well for the future of the US
     
    #33     Aug 14, 2006
  4. it said psycho/Discipline.. im sure most voted for Discipline than the other. Discipline in every part of life makes you a winner.
     
    #34     Aug 14, 2006
  5. JA_LDP

    JA_LDP

    inCom,

    You are correct, I did generalize in those statements based on what I believe and know, which I shouldn't have. Also, yes, I am 20 years old.

    Obviously, I do not know 100% of anything. I apologize for making it seem that way.

    I didn't tell my girlfriend that her studies aren't worth crap, her advisors at school basically did. They told her that unless she was planning on getting an advanced degree, in terms of jobs and money, she was wasting her time. So many people graduate in psychology, that an advanced degree is highly recommended to ensure a decent job, but obviously not necessary. But, I know that a lot of advisors are full of shit anyways. I'm on pace to graduate early and mine wants me to take extra summer classes to "diversify" and study abroad, and give more money to the school...but when I speak to professors and other advisors, they tell me that's nonsense and "diversifying" would have no effect on salary, acceptance into grad school, etc. But that's what hers told her.

    I also know that lots of people graduate in finance. The difference is that an entry level finance job will get you anywhere from 30-50k (generally on average here in Michigan) while an entry level psych job will get you 20-30k (again, generally on average).

    The few psych classes that I took, my professor graduated in electrical engineering. Then, like you talked about, he wanted a career, instead of just a job. He told us exactly what my gf's advisors said. It wasn't until he entered the doctorate program that he actually learned something. Up until then he said, "I felt like I was in high school trying to sneak a peak at the girls wearing short skirts. There was nothing better to do." The only thing that kept him in the program was the fact that he read a few books on his own and knew there was something more than what they were teaching. Remember, he was in it for the career, not the job. Some of the books he read in the doctoral program, he assigned us to read. Obviously, he analyzed them in greater detail.

    These classes were extremely interesting. It was not psych 101. I took that in high school and got an 'A' on every test by doing nothing but using common sense. Anyways, his class was a social science course titled 'Power, Authority and Exchange.' According to him, it was a watered down version of what he studied to get his PhD. and eventually wrote his dissertation about because like he said, everything in psychology up until his advanced graduate studies, was pointless. His other course I took was titled "War and Revolution."

    Back in May, my girlfriend and I swapped final exams. I tested her 400 level psych final exam and she tested my 300 level War and Revolution final exam (all based around psychology like why nations go to war, soldiers experiences and the effects, mentality, etc). I got an 86% on her exam while she got a 48% on mine. My exam didn’t mention a war or dates or any history. It was purely a psychology exam. Sorry, I’m really drifting off base here, but because of this, I do believe that I know more about psychology than the average Joe (the average joe does not have much common sense), so my generalizations aren't completely unwarranted. Even though I enjoyed his classes greatly, I cannot see the relation with what I've learned about psychology and trading. Maybe this is my fault.

    I was sarcastic when I said, "the rest is useless," but from my experiences I gathered one idea: If one has any kind of people skills what so ever, he/she can be a successful psychologist and probably is to many people (friends/family) already. I agree with TicketWatcher, where he said the psych taught in academic courses (I assumed this to be psych 101, 102, etc) is not useful to trading. That's exactly what I said in my first post and that’s why I told the original poster to just go buy a few books. I’m not talking about some textbooks like psychology for dummies. I’m talking about 'The Republic of Plato', or 'Confession' by Tolstoy or 'Small is Beautiful' by Schumacher. Go buy some Erich Fromm or 'The Warriors' by J. Glenn Gray, just to name a few.

    One more reason I think psych would not be useful to trading, is that both my mother and girlfriend have the WORST discipline of anyone I know despite their psychology background.

    Yes, I have worked so hard at something that my fellow students (at least in my school) would have given anything for my "talent." I wasn't the best in the country, or the state. Hell, most people would say it's nothing at all, but in my school, I was the only kid who could run a sub 4:25 mile. Believe me, one just doesn’t go out and run a 4:22 mile. It takes years of training and workouts. But, I am not sure how that relates to the fact that I believe one needs an advanced degree to have a better chance at making a better living for themselves, especially with psychology.

    You talked about experience so I will mention what little experience I do have. Last semester, I participated in a service learning program where we went to a local elementary school and talked with kids who had extreme tardiness, totally misbehaved etc. I was assigned a kid who had already been in several different foster homes. He was in 2nd grade. He's been molested, beaten, his mother was on drugs, no father, etc. I could not believe what he had experienced in his short life. After the 15-week semester, I had aided in him in coming to terms with much of his past. Although not as dramatic, the results were similar to what Robin Williams did to Matt Damon in Good Will Hunting. (great movie, by the way). He went from lying about everything, beating kids up, yelling at his teacher, to giving me a hug before I left everyday and breaking down one day because he “wanted to be wanted.” Despite his young age, he was able to grow and understand more about life and love than many of my college buddies and he is probably too young to even realize it.



    So everything that you mentioned, I have experience with. My generalizations come from my experiences and from what professionals in that field of study have experienced.

    But, I am just some punk college "boy", so take everything I say on these forums with a grain of salt.
     
    #35     Aug 16, 2006
  6. JA_LDP

    JA_LDP

    I did not make any points for him to rebut. I offered my opinion. He could not accept my opinion.
     
    #36     Aug 16, 2006
  7. But if the question is: "I want to be a trader, should I study psych?" then I think the answer is different. I don't think psychology is useless but is it the right thing for a trader to study?

    When it comes to analysising the markets the psych side of it isnt really very hard (I've read all the behavioural psych books and some of the more recent papers). It isn't. You don't need a psych degree to get a grip on how the markets behave or to understand the psych aspects of panic etc.

    What about the real issue as identified in my thread on why people fail: discipline and personal psychology issues? Doctors are not encouraged to diagnose themselves. Lawyers are not encouraged to represent themselves. And I dare to suggest that you would get better psych help from a suitably qualified other person than from yourself with similar quals.

    Given that most psych issues a trader deals with are within themselves then the psych degree is interesting but not truly of much value for a trader - not harmful but not as valuable as other ways of spending the time.

    So, get more quals that will help with an alternative career should you be a shit trader ... or just start trading once u have your quals. You dont need a psych degree to be a better trader.

    Good luck :)
     
    #37     Aug 16, 2006
  8. Post of the year!!.....Excellent.
     
    #38     Aug 16, 2006
  9. Hrmmm... I agree 1/2 way.

    I'm sticking to psychology but from a broad point of "learning something". Of course, you start trading and you learn from it. But if the lessons demands you to gain new knowledge or skill, you should do it.

    In a very micro-scopic view, let's say you only use one chart to trade. If you rationally think that using another chart helps you trade better, I think that you should try it. It can be a new technical indicator or a bunch of instruments to follow the market in a behaviorial purpose.

    In another view, if you rationally think programming helps so that you can actually test your current/hypothetical validity of some strategy, you should learn it...

    In the same way, if one feels that learning psychology will help them trade better, they should approach it regardless of the outcome.

    Again... it's 1/2 way.
     
    #39     Aug 16, 2006
  10. You give two examples of "if you rationally think" and then one of "if one feels." I think your freudian slip is showing.

    I just watched a Penn and Teller Bullshit series show on Self Improvement and its noticable that most of the sad folk they showed did it because they too went for "if one feels." :)
     
    #40     Aug 16, 2006