THE INFLUENCE OF STEROID HORMONES ON FINANCIAL DECISIONS FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF NEUROPSYCHOLOGY

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.22533/at.ed.558472423026

• Palavras-chave: market, hormones and decision

• Keywords: market, hormones and decision

• Abstract:

  Growing evidence shows that biological factors affect individual decisions that can be reflected in financial markets. Among the various existing biological factors, endocrine hormones have been explored as variables to be considered in an individual's decision-making. The financial markets present us with the largest and most intense competitive and stressful forum ever created, favoring and stimulating the bodies of professionals – traders – to produce testosterone and cortisol in large quantities and for a considerable period of time. Testosterone, a chemical messenger especially influential in male physiology, has been shown to affect economic decision-making and is reported to be a kind of performance enhancer, precisely because it promotes competition, aggressive, territorial behaviors and a greater appetite for risk. On the other hand, the stressful and competitive environment stimulates the production of cortisol, making reasoning difficult, increasing risk aversion and promoting a more pessimistic stance. Therefore, the results demonstrate that there is an action of endocrine hormones in specific regions of the brain and that they act directly to moderate human behavior.