This sort of lends itself to what we were discussing yesterday and I'm going to have to disagree with you here. To me, one single study uncorroborated by other independent studies is meaningless. That's me. However, that has not stopped Time, MSNBC, and a host of other media organs from running with it. The average person would read that headline and draw a conclusion based on it. http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23991888-trading-is-a-game-played-by-psychopaths.do http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/09/26/traders-more-reckless-than-psychopaths-study-shows/ http://www.forbes.com/sites/chrisbarth/2011/09/26/new-study-old-news-stock-traders-are-psychopaths/ (Forbes doesn't mice words at all in their headline. They even include a pic of good ole Patrick Bateman, wielding a shiny kitchen knife, to really drive the point home) As you may have gathered, I am distrustful of the media. When I see something perpetuated like this I have to wonder why.
I am not defending the piece or how they did the research, I am simply saying based on my 10 plus years as a "professional" trader both in Chicago and NY, both on the floor and upstairs, working with over 1000 traders, I would agree with their statement. For all I know they made it all up. I am simply agreeing with the statement. Apart from psychopathic behavior, I would note that I think traders have a much higher percentage of sociopathic behavior then the normal population. I have seen traders in large mass do unconscionable things with other people's money with absolutely no regret or feeling.
I've seen many humans do unconscionable things but that doesn't mean I am going to say all humans are psychopaths (or worse). Any subgroup of humanity is going to have it's share of bad apples, and the trading community is no different. These articles suggest otherwise, if only by omission.
Again, I didn't say all humans or all traders. I'm just agreeing with perhaps their flawed premise. If you want to get mad at them, I guess you also have to get mad at Oliver Stone for Wall Street and Wall Street 2, the movies "American Psycho", "Boiler room", "Bonfire of the Vanities", etc. Hollywood has certainly "suggested" the same thing and have profited handsomely off that suggestion.
I understand where you are coming from. The media with this, not so much. BTW Boiler Room featured a trader with a conscience. You may recall the character played by Giovanni Ribisi actually attempted to make it right with the guy he screwed over, as did Bud Fox played by Charlie Sheen (with his Dad's airline). Didn't see Bonfire of the Vanities and American Psycho had very little to do with trading. In fact, I'm not sure there was a single conversation about a stock purchase in that entire movie.
American Psycho was politcal commentary about the greed that rushed onto Wall Street during the Reagan years. It was VERY political and VERY much about Wall Street. Boiler Room, had one guy with a conscience and 100 psychopaths! LOL. Not good to use for your argument. Same with Wall Street.
We sure love getting into the weeds don't we. The protagonists of both Boiler Room and Wallstreet redeemed themselves by the end of their respective films. IOW the heroes of the films did the right thing and they represented counterpoints to all the "evil". However, Bud Fox went to jail for his trouble and Seth Davis wound up having to cooperate with the FBI so maybe you're right.
LOL. A sample of 28 traders, from which they draw conclusions about an entire professional population. What idiots. The term "trader" has no definition that can be applied to a population group with any measurable conclusions. It has no more value than trying to measure "golfers" or "drivers" or "gardeners" or "investors".
You must be new around here. I have a habit of being argumentative for the sake of being argumentative.