psychology

Earlier this year, Comedy Central's Stephen Colbert interviewed Jim Cramer about market psychology against a video background of puppies and kittens. Did it help the market rebound from its March lows? Who knows? But investors are sure feeling better about themselves. The Chicago Board Options...

For millions of mutual fund investors, Dow 10,000 was an awkward milestone. In October alone, as markets crested following an eight-month run-up in stock prices, investors put the largest monthly amount into bond funds since 1984 -- a record $48.4 billion. Meanwhile they yanked $15.5 billion out of...

It takes tremendous focus for a blind man to climb Mount Everest, a swimmer to take on the English Channel or a speed demon to race an automobile at 400 miles per hour at the Bonneville Salt Flats outside of Salt Lake City. But Brett Steenbarger, a clinical associate professor of psychiatry and...

Perhaps your boss is a screamer. Or maybe he gets off on saying he should never, ever have hired you. Maybe it's your coworker who's always blabbing to other colleagues about the mistakes you've supposedly made on the job. If any of these situations sound familiar, you're probably dealing with a...

The reported suicide of acting Freddie Mac (FRE) Chief Financial Officer David Kellermann puts a human face on the damage the recession has taken on the American psyche. Kellermann, 41, apparently was uneasy about the publicity he got after it was reported that he received an $800,000 bonus from...

Valentine's Day is a long three months away, but what would you rather have: the American classic Hershey's Kiss or the Swedish treat, a Lindt chocolate truffle? For my money, I'd rather have a chocolate truffle. But if price is an issue, then a Hershey's Kiss chocolate will still satisfy my sweet...

Ever know someone who "has it all," then throws it away by doing something stupid or worse--something fatal? The most well-known examples are celebrities; musicians, entertainers, and athletes, semingly making all the money in the worls and then doing something self-destructive. Think of Brittany...

We New Jersey residents are awfully proud of leading the country in car insurance rates, property taxes and political corruption. Now no less of an august authority than the University of Cambridge claims that modern life has turned my fellow residents into balls of stress.According to a press...

It doesn't take a genius to figure out that our country has a serious shopping problem: our national savings rate is below zero, most Americans carry balances on their credit cards, and we're running out of landfill space to dump the last generation of how video games. If you often find yourself...

In an entertaining column in the New York Times, M.P. Dunleavy describes her family's effort to "go medieval" on that last few thousand dollars worth of credit card debt accumulated prior to their marriage.To help eliminate the last bit and break free from debt hell, the couple has temporarily...