THE INVESTOR'S QUOTIENT: The Psychology of Successful Investing in Stocks and Commodities

by Jacob Bernstein ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 1980

How to succeed on the Market by monitoring your psyche: otherwise, warns Bernstein (a clinical psychologist turned investment advisor), the gains or losses accruing from good or bad trades may not suffice to override personal weaknesses. An exponent of going with the flow and profiting from market trends (easier said than done), he maintains that many individuals miss major moves because of unrealistic fear of losses (which he equates with castration anxiety), lack of self-confidence (resulting from ""negative childhood experiences""), ""acceptance of inputs from contrary sources"" (""a punitive spouse"" or dominating father), or other shortcomings. A behavioral checklist offers such ringers as ""The market is 'fixed.' Only insiders make money."" ""If you answered 'yes,'"" says Bernstein, ""then you have a negative attitude that will most likely lead to further losses."" But whether cultivating a positive mental attitude will produce the analytic insights, let alone the will, to solve problems attributable to unconscious motivations, even Bernstein is not prepared to say. Roughly half the text is devoted to summary discussions of schools of psychological thought; much of the balance is given over to explications of how investors might learn to appreciate the putative powers of personal demons and to neutralize, if not exorcise, them. Mainstream pop psychology for those susceptible to the thought that a securities or commodities exchange involves transference of some sort.

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1980

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Wiley

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1980

Categories: NONFICTION