“Psychology May Be Making 12,000 a Barrier” plus 2 more |
- Psychology May Be Making 12,000 a Barrier
- Psychology Department Reflects on Two Student Deaths
- MarketWatch First Take: Psychology may be making 12,000 a barrier
| Psychology May Be Making 12,000 a Barrier Posted: 26 Jan 2011 07:35 AM PST CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (MarketWatch) — The stock market's retreat early Tuesday no doubt comes as disappointing to investors who hoped the previous session's triple-digit rise would generate enough momentum for the Dow industrials to push through the 12,000 level. But the pullback may have been caused by nothing more noteworthy than the psychological significance that investors pay to round numbers. Consider a fascinating study, "Price Barriers in the Dow Jones Industrial Average," published nearly 20 years ago in the academic Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis. The authors were Glen Donaldson of the University of British Columbia in Vancouver and Harold Kim, who at the time was at Princeton. They carefully analyzed the behavior of the Dow Jones Industrial Average [DJIA] as it approached round numbers, such as 100 or 1,000. The two researchers theorized that if such round numbers did represent genuine barriers, then the Dow's behavior in the vicinity of those barriers would have been different than its behavior when the blue-chip benchmark was well above or below those levels. This is exactly what they found. As a further test on their findings, the researchers conducted the identical test for the Wilshire 5000 Index [W5000] , reasoning that few investors have been aware of that index's level. That certainly seems a reasonable assumption: After all, how many are aware of where it's trading? (Answer: Around 13,650.) Unlike what they found to be in the case of the widely followed Dow, the researchers found no abnormal trading patterns in the market whenever the Wilshire 5000 approached a multiple of 100 or 1,000. This finding reinforced the researchers' belief that it is the psychological perception of price barriers that creates those barriers. What this research means: Don't get too discouraged just because the market is stalling at the 12,000 level. — Mark Hulbert This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
| Psychology Department Reflects on Two Student Deaths Posted: 24 Jan 2011 09:47 PM PST By Sara Berry As the Central Connecticut State University campus mourns the loss of psychology students Rich Royster and Brittany Mariani, the department in which they both spent their academic time studying took time to remember them on Monday. Marianne Fallon and Marisa Mealy, both of the psychology department, worked closely with Royster and knew him well. Fallon was set to supervise Royster's independent study on the effects of comedy on racial stereotypes. Both referred to him as a big, intimidating guy who was really a teddy bear, and more talented than he let on. Mealy shared an anecdote from a class she taught Royster in. Last semester, after Thanksgiving break, she came to class sharing her weekend that included a fight with her boyfriend. Royster offered to "get together a posse and get [her] stuff back," in exchange for extra credit points for anyone who participated. While the football-playing Royster was well-known on campus, Mariani was much more quiet. While Fallon never met her in person, she was in one of her online classes and gained a lot of insight to Mariani's personality through her written work. Fallon described her writing as very honest and insightful. Jason Sikorski, also a psychology professor, described her as a happy, energetic and devoted student with a good sense of humor who was always smiling. Sikorski remembers Mariani as being interested in social work. Psychology Department Chair Laura Bowman had both Royster and Mariani in her cognitive psychology class last semester. Bowman also described Mariani as being cheerful, interested and engaged in what she was learning. She always contributed in class discussions and according to Fallon, enjoyed communicating with other people. Mealy and Fallon also shared their learning about the tragedy. Fallon learned about it through the campus announcement sent out Saturday afternoon by Mark McLaughlin, Associate Vice President of Marketing and Communications at CCSU. She then called Mealy, who was in their shared office preparing for classes. "The conversation was like 'No way,' 'yes,' 'no,' 'yes.' "said Mealy. "When we got off the phone, I just started bawling." That sentiment of the two students who loved learning about other people was shared by the entire psychology department. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
| MarketWatch First Take: Psychology may be making 12,000 a barrier Posted: 25 Jan 2011 07:21 AM PST By MarketWatch CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (MarketWatch) — The stock market's retreat early Tuesday no doubt comes as disappointing to investors who hoped the previous session's triple-digit rise would generate enough momentum for the Dow industrials to push through the 12,000 level. But the pullback may have been caused by nothing more noteworthy than the psychological significance that investors pay to round numbers. /conga/story/misc/markets.html 118590 Consider a fascinating study, "Price Barriers in the Dow Jones Industrial Average," published nearly 20 years ago in the academic Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis. The authors were Glen Donaldson of the University of British Columbia in Vancouver and Harold Kim, who at the time was at Princeton. They carefully analyzed the behavior of the Dow Jones Industrial Average /quotes/comstock/10w!i:dji/delayed (DJIA 11,985, +8.25, +0.07%) as it approached round numbers, such as 100 or 1,000. The two researchers theorized that if such round numbers did represent genuine barriers, then the Dow's behavior in the vicinity of those barriers would have been different than its behavior when the blue-chip benchmark was well above or below those levels. This is exactly what they found. As a further test on their findings, the researchers conducted the identical test for the Wilshire 5000 Index (W5000 13,653, +2.72, +0.02%) , reasoning that few investors have been aware of that index's level. That certainly seems a reasonable assumption: After all, how many are aware of where it's trading? (Answer: Around 13,650.) Unlike what they found to be in the case of the widely followed Dow, the researchers found no abnormal trading patterns in the market whenever the Wilshire 5000 approached a multiple of 100 or 1,000. This finding reinforced the researchers' belief that it is the psychological perception of price barriers that creates those barriers. What this research means: Don't get too discouraged just because the market is stalling at the 12,000 level. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
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