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Making Money with
Testosterone
The characters of the movie Wall Street are the
epitome of what comes to most peoples minds when they think of the
financial excess of the moneyed elite in the eighties, whether they
realize such or not. Even though the majority of people have not seen
this amazing film, society as a whole absorbed its message and its
perception of those at the top of the financial world. The characters
of Wall Street are primarily big money traders on the American and
international stock markets.
The men who were the most successful in the film
all belonged to a similar template. They were masculine to the core.
They were aggressive and they strove to defeat their competition and
strike it rich by any means necessary. They were intense alpha dogs
with surly character that matched.
Wall Street: The Truth about Assertiveness and
Success
Although the characterization of this film played
a role in cementing the stereotype of the cut throat yet immensely
successful businessman, there are some core truths about the human
character and what it takes to get the most out of life that can be
understood deeply when watching this epic film. Researchers
participating in a study at the University of Cambridge have come to
a logical conclusion that most people have understood in their hearts
throughout their entire lives:
It isnt money and material wealth that drive
the world, its pure Testosterone.
This study has provided significant evidence that
the more Testosterone that a stock market trader produces, the more
financial success they will derive from their testosteroneat least
up until a certain threshold.
Testosterone, Biology, and Business
Perhaps not surprisingly, this psychological and
physiological study was derived not only by representatives from the
fields of psychology or biology, but from an academic representing
the social science of business itself. Cambridge Business professor
John Coates partnered with Cambridge neuroscience professor and
renowned psychological expert Joseph Herbert in order to test their
hypothesis about the link between Testosterone and financial success.
John Coates has not always been an Oxford Professorhe earned his
stripes on the front line of business, earlier in his life he had
developed a successful career on Wall Street managing the trade floor
for Deutsche Bank.
The Method of Study
The two professors monitored seventeen stock
traders who worked for the Bank of London, and they performed blood
testing over the course of 8 consecutive days on the market floor.
The goal of this study was to monitor the hormone levels of these
day-traders to measure for any correlation between hormonal elevation
and trader success. The seventeen traders were evaluated by levels of
cortisol and testosterone in their blood stream
The Nature of Testosterone and Cortisol
Testosterone has been linked to a number of
different character attributes. Men with high testosterone tend to be
more assertive than their peers. This doesnt always manifest
itself in aggression. Elevated Testosterone simply means that these
men are more apt to make strong willed stances and heartfelt
decisions than those who have lower levels of Testosterone. Cortisol,
on the other hand, is linked to stress. Higher levels of stress,
whether that duress is of a physical or mental typology, lead to
elevated cortisol levels. These elevated cortisol levels are linked
with cautious actions and men who have exceedingly high cortisol
levels will be much more likely to avoid risk and confrontation.
The Results: High Testosterone Equals Major
Success
When they monitored the men, the two researchers
discovered that those who had the highest levels of Testosterone in
the AM hours were the most likely to achieve financial success during
the trading day. One particularly savvy (or lucky) trader made major
gains six days in a row. During this cant-lose period that the man
experienced, he made twice as much money than he earned on a normal
trading day. It was also discovered that at the same time his
financial outlook had improved, his endogenous Testosterone
production surged by almost 75%.
The research team also discovered that an opposing
mechanism came into play as the fortunes of traders were not so
gainful. When earnings became more volatile and there was less
stability in the market, the traders blood serum cortisol level
raised significantly. The success and the physiological effect of
that success seemed to go hand in hand. Failure operates with an
opposing mechanism.
The results of this study were published in the
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Coates hypothesises
that a positive loop of feedback exists in which the professional
gains of success cause a successful male to receive a boost of
testosterone as a result. This testosterone boost encourages the man
to take further risk with his investments or other life decisions,
and this has the ability to promote a form of aggressive upward
mobility.
Testosterone and the Winner Effect
Coates feels that this hormonal process of
testosterone is correlated with what many researchers and scientific
theorists have labelled the winner effect. In any competition
where one male or a group of males is at odds with another group and
defeats the opposition, there is a linked Testosterone boost that has
been proven to occur in the victor. This has been surveyed in both
the animal and the human world and is very established theory.
To provide an example: Male deer are known
to compete in a ferocious show of force in order to impress and win
the affection of a potential mate. Two bucks wrestle with their
antlers in order to earn the right to mate with their chosen love
interest. The buck that pressures and intimidates his opponent into
submission earns mating rightswhile also receiving a flush of
testosterone as a result. In humans, the same effect has been seen in
male athletes, from track and field competitors to professional
boxers. This boost of Testosterone helps the male, giving them an
advantage in aggression and assertive dominance.
As win after win mount up, the resulting boost can
be tremendous. This could be likened to the concept of the alpha
male. Eventually in a population, one male achieves so much success
that he has rendered his competition into total submission. This
Oxford study presents evidence that this same Testosterone feedback
mechanism is at play in the ecosystem of financial trading.
Testosterone and the Stock Market
The great problem that Coates perceives, however,
is that this positive Testosterone feedback can eventually lead to
declining or even negative returns. He feels that if the average
person perceives that the primary indicator of success in the stock
market is testosterone; individuals may start to abuse the drug in an
attempt to achieve personal gain. Another potential issue that
results from testosterone elevation is that an individual may lose
the ability to properly evaluate risk, and they will begin to take
illogical chances without taking into account other factors that have
led to their success besides assertiveness and fearlessness.
When the stock market goes on long streaks, it
results in an excess of testosterone throughout the entire system.
Risk-taking reaches levels which create danger and instability within
the system. All of this risk eventually has the capacity to cause the
system to collapse within itself. If this occurs in a financial
market, the characteristics perpetuated by the opposite hormone begin
to dominate the market.
Cortisol and the Stock Market
Stock market dives greatly increase stress levels
across the board which physiologically leads to high levels of
cortisol within the body as a result of all of the stress. Coates
says that abnormally high cortisol levels lead to greater levels of
anxiety and fearfulness. In addition to this, high levels of cortisol
also hinder the judgment of the collective consciousness of the
group, hindering the recovery and preventing normally savvy investors
from making the most of their investments. He also is led to believe
that elevated cortisol levels cause individuals to perceive the world
far more dangerous than it actually is. High cortisol leads
individuals to pathologically mistake opportunity for unacceptable
risk.
This mistaken perception of unacceptable risk
causes a form of mental paralysation that prevents the group from
being successful. It subverts healthy and normal thinking and
prevents the intelligent investor from doing that which is prudent to
generate success. The boom created by success promoted by elevated
testosterone levels eventually leads to a bust if elevated
Testosterone levels are not held in check. The moral of Coates
study is that physiological processes Such as High Testosterone
mirror and amplify human cultural nature.
Testosterone and the Financial Boom-Bust Cycle
John Coates correlates this phenomenon to the
financial bust which proceeded the gigantic and unsustainable tech
bubble. Dr. Coates became intensely interested in the negative
aspects and possible potential that Testosterone and cortisol
attributed to the feeding frenzy that resulted from the boom of
speculation that led to the dotcom bubble. Its clear that in
situations such as financial speculation that there are factors at
play beyond the normal logical processes of intelligent investment.
Excessive Testosterone is like Drug Abuse
The mental symptoms of large financial and
speculative booms can be easily likened to a drug addiction. The
extreme success caused by positive yet unsustainable market
fluctuation blinds stockbrokers from their innate ability to take
normal, conscious account of risk. An outside observer can come to
these men with sound logic and explain the fundamental flaws inherent
in the belief that tech prices or housing prices or stock market
prices will increase in perpetuity, but these Testosterone-laden men
will look at their past success, feel the rush caused by that
success, and ignore the forest fire to see the beautiful foliage.
The All-Male Market
The culture of financial trading is an inherently
male profession. There are very few women who make the move to the
fast paced market culture, and for this reason it is dominated by
Testosterone-laden men who amplify the rollercoaster ride of Wall
Street and create immense volatility within the global financial
market. Coates is of the belief that many men enter these professions
because of the high potential for success combined with a penchant
for thrill seeking.
Although in our evolutionary past, this mechanism
of Testosterone Elevation promoted the propagation of the species, in
a modern world where physical prowess and intimidation are no longer
the sole traits which characterise success; there are numerous
situations where excess Testosterone actually inhibits
self-preserving function. There is obviously a psychological link
between the rush of the Hormone Testosterone and the instability of
the British, American, and global financial markets.
There are those within the
trading community which agree with Dr. Coates. One British stock
trader came forth and agreed that the mentality of the highly
competitive risk-reward culture of the stock market performed within
the doctors philosophical parameters. All people who engage in
trading have to be able to accept a relatively high level of risk,
but long term success has a tendency to numb professionals to the
fear of failure, which contributes greatly to illogical risk-taking.
How to Relieve the Pressure of High
Testosterone in the Market
Dr. Coates proposes a novel way to calm the stormy
sea of the stock market. He is of the opinion that women should be
encouraged to join the market trading profession in order to provide
a hormonal counterweight which can temper the testosterone-fuelled
cyclical nature of the national and global market scene. Perhaps
there is a nugget of truth in Coates proposal. Testosterone is the
key to male success, but feminine empathy and risk aversion may be
just the remedy that finance needs to achieve greater stabilization
Relevance to the Conscious
Evolution Institute:
Testosterone is one of the most influential
hormones produced by the male body: perhaps even the most influential
in breeding a mentality of strength which precipitates success.
Although this article discusses many of the issues that are related
to abnormally high levels of Testosterone, it also shows evidence
that the opposite issue is also a factor as well. Low Testosterone
levels have been proven to have a grossly negative effect on men both
physically and mentally.
Testosterone and Mental Health
Patients who have low Testosterone levels are
afflicted with a number of different psychological issues such as
depression, anxiety, and lack of assertiveness. Healthy testosterone
levels help men be more like themselves. It helps them make the most
of their lives and maintain vitality and control over their own
destiny.
The Dangers of Cortisol
Cortisol levels have been proven to be more
dangerous to the male body than high levels of Testosterone. The goal
of Testosterone Replacement Therapy is not to produce unnaturally
high and unhealthy Testosterone levels. The goal of the treatment is
to restore the levels of Testosterone that allow men to emulate their
younger, more handsome, and more assertive selves.
Testosterone Replacement Therapy at the
Conscious Evolution Institute
If you are interested in Testosterone HRT, you
should know that the Conscious Evolution Institute is one of the best
Anti-Aging facilities in the United States. We utilize proven
treatment methods in order to resolve hormone deficiency o that we
can help both men and women live longer and healthier lives. We want
to help you make every day the best day of your life. We would love
to take your call today!
Yours in Life, Love, and Vitality
The Conscious Evolution Institute
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