John Coates Ph.D.

Interests

Physiology and financial risk taking.

The waves of irrational exuberance and pessimism that destabilise the financial markets may be driven by physiological changes taking place within traders as they make or lose money and as market volatility rises and falls. I have been testing the hypothesis, developed while running a trading desk on Wall Street, that alterations within traders’ physiology cause their risk preferences to shift systematically across the cycle, exaggerating the peaks and troughs. To do so I have been monitoring the endocrine and autonomic nervous systems of traders on a trading floor in the City of London. These physiological systems affect the moods we experience, the memories we store and recall, and the behaviour we display in competitive and risk-taking situations. I am also looking the different styles of risk taking employed by men and women.

I complement this field work with behavioural experiments set in the lab and in artificial asset markets.

Trading Floor
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Research Focus

Equipment

Behavioural analysis

Electrophysiological recording techniques

Hormone assays

Neuropsychological testing