To some degree, in stock market the reward can be______.
A different patient was puzzled not by his anxiety about the market, but by his total lack of self-confidence. He had always had an easy intuitive feel for finance. But in the wake of the market collapse, he seriously questioned his knowledge and skill.
Each of these patients experienced a sudden loss of the sense of mastery in the face of the financial meltdown and could not judge their success or failure without the only standard they knew --a financial profit.
The challenge of maintaining one’s self-esteem without recognition or reward is daunting. Chances are that if you are impervious to self-doubt and go on feeling good about yourself in the face of failure, you have either won the temperamental sweepstakes or you have a real problem tolerating bad news.
Of course, the relationship between self-esteem and achievement can be circular. Some argue that the best way to build self-esteem is to tell people at every turn how nice, smart and talented they are. That is probably a bad idea if you think that self-esteem and recognition should be the result of accomplishment; you feel good about yourself, in part, because you have done something well. On the other hand, it is hard to imagine people taking the first step without first having some basic notion of self-confidence.
On Wall Street, though, a rising tide lifts many boats and vice versa, which means that there are many people who succeed--or fail--through no merit or fault of their own. This observation might ease a sense of personal responsibility for the economic crisis, but it was of little comfort to my patients. I think this is because for many of them, the previously expanding market gave them a sense of power along with something as strong as a drug--thrill.
The human brain is acutely attuned(使相合) to rewards like money, sex and drugs. It turns out that the way a reward is delivered has an enormous impact on its strength. Unpredictable rewards produce much larger signals in the brain’s reward circuit than anticipated ones. Your reaction to situations that are either better or worse than expected is generally stronger to those you can predict.
In a sense, the stock market is like a vast gambling casino where the reward can be spectacular, but always unpredictable. For many, the lure of investing is the thrill of uncertain reward. Now that thrill is gone, replaced by anxiety and fear.
My patients lost more than money in the market. Beyond the rush and excitement, they lost their sense of competence and success. At least temporarily, I have no doubt that, like the economy, they will recover. But it’s a reminder of just how fragile our self-confidence can be.