The Psychology of Money - An Investment Manager\'s Guide to Beating the Market

The Typical Investment Personality 53

weaknesses, they stare at one another, furrow their brows, and shrug

their shoulders. No weaknesses.

At first blush, this response may seem highly arrogant or sim-

ply naïve. However, consider it in the context of our society, which

loves efficiency and productivity. Ever since we were tiny children

we’ve been rewarded for neatness, timeliness, coloring inside the

lines, finishing the exam first, getting the right answer—all the things

at which left-brainers naturally excel. So, of course, they tend to

think that they’re doing life “correctly.”

Roger Sperry, the originator of the left–right brain theory,

believes that there is a huge untapped resource for most people in

the right hemisphere, as a result of this societal emphasis: “Our

educational system and modern society generally discriminate

against one whole half of the brain. In our present educational

system, the attention given to the right hemisphere of the brain is

minimal compared with the training lavished on the left side.”

Increasingly, research is validating the importance of the inter-

play between the left and right brain. For example, a new form of

Myers-Briggs STJ SP NT NF

Type Sensing-

(based on thinking- Sensing- Intuitive- Intuitive-

temperaments judging perceiving thinking feeling

described in

next section

Number of

Presidents 21 13 6 0

Examples Washington Roosevelt Adams

Wilson Kennedy Lincoln

Truman Johnson Grant

Nixon Reagan Hoover

Ford Clinton Eisenhower

Carter

Bush

Figure 7.1 MBTI classifications of U.S. Presidents.

07 ware 53 1/19/01, 1:09 PM