There's a scientific reason for it. Our beliefs influence our behavior. I mentored a guy who found it almost impossible to believe price would move from where it is at the time of a trade signal/trigger to a reasonable technical level. Although we put on identical trades in terms of entry, he cut off every winner because he was afraid of losing. His fear of losing (belief price wouldn't get to target) caused this unreasonable behavior (moving his stop to break even or taking a small profit) and the only trades he held were the losers, thereby realizing his fear.
Now that you mentioned science, things look different . I'll have to do some research but off hand your reasoning sound credible.
I Googled the terms "beliefs and trading". over 12 million hits without the quotes, around 1.5 million with the quotes. If we agree that the word SCIENTIFIC means - systematic; methodical, could you elaborate as to the "scientific reason" you mentioned?
The "Law of Attraction" claims that you can attract what you desire by your thoughts, beliefs, or feelings. I've never seen any scientific proof of this and so I don't believe in this "law". However, your thoughts, beliefs, and feelings have a powerful influence on your actions, your behavior. And there's plenty of scientific evidence that your behavior influences results. My trading student feared loss despite having full understanding of a positive expectancy trading plan and the ability to recognize signals at the hard right edge. Because he feared loss, he behaved in ways contrary to the trading plan, thereby "attracting" what he feared: consistently negative results A guy whose previous wives cheated on him is now dating a woman with whom he has common interests and good times. They seem to be falling in love, but after a couple months he becomes extremely protective of her because he's afraid she'll cheat on him. He gets upset when she hugs a male friend, meets with her male personal trainer once a week, and joins a hiking group that he's not interested in. His negative reactions and his insistence that she stop doing these things lead to arguments and she eventually breaks off the relationship. It wasn't his thoughts or feelings that "attracted" what he feared; it was his behavior that drove her away.
There is actually a LOT of misunderstandings about the "Law of Attraction". And I am not even claiming to understand it really! It seems to me , though, in the cases you mentioned, it means the individuals have their mind in a way polluted - hence they are actually attracting the "pollution" they have in them. The "Law of Attraction" means one really attracts what deep down they really are / desire. And most often this is not what they consciously acknowledge.
Before anything else, one needs a blueprint. I call this blueprint a trading plan, or business plan, if you will. This ensures that you end up building up what your thorough analysis indicates you should. I call the realization of the blueprint "profit" Now, comes the hard part. I know traders who've done the work and have a plan that's concise enough to trade without confusion. Yet most of them struggle with following the rules. They hesitate, chase, micro-manage (move stops/targets), jump the gun, and put on trades without a signal in sight. I've done it all, multiple times, to the point of almost giving up, in fact. All the books, seminars, deeper market analysis, indicators, psychologists, and hypnotists in the world will not magically result in new behavior. The way to break through these issues is to welcome the discomfort you feel as you begin to do the opposite of the negative behaviors you've been engaged in. You see a valid setup and it signals a trade. As soon as you see the signal, ask yourself, "Would I log this as a valid trade on a spreadsheet if I was analyzing the chart at the end of the day?" If you answer "Yes" then immediately place your order and then sit on your hands until the trade plays out or a valid opposing setup appears and signals a new trade. It will feel wrong for quite a while because when you're addicted to doing the wrong things, doing the right things feels wrong. By pushing through your negative behaviors with positive behaviors, your trading results become positive (again, assuming you have a positive expectancy plan). Then there comes a day when you realize that it all feels quite relaxing. You're alert when a valid setup signals and you look forward to jumping on a raft in the market's river of opportunity. You have no concerns about taking a loss because you know another raft will come by, taking you that much closer to the net positive outcome your business plan provides. I put on trades every day that would've seemed absolutely perplexing and impossible to me in the past. I'm now totally comfortable because I acted my way into believing that the results I saw in my end of day analyses of price action were attainable in real time if I trusted myself.