The human factor across all disciplines.
Psychology in Cyclepedia is an autonomous encyclopedia area — not an analysis discipline. It spans cyclic, volumetric, price action, fundamental, systematic and AI: wherever decisions happen under stress.
It's not "psychological chart analysis". It's cognitive bias, emotions, discipline, risk tolerance, individual and collective behaviour, decision process.
Behavioural finance studies how psychology and bias affect financial decisions and prices. Kahneman and Tversky are central (prospect theory, heuristics, loss aversion); Shefrin and Statman for applied behavioural portfolio theory.
Main themes
| Theme | Coverage |
|---|---|
| Cognitive bias | Confirmation, recency, anchoring, overconfidence |
| Trading emotions | FOMO, panic, euphoria, greed, fear |
| Discipline | Trading plan, routine, journaling |
| Psychological risk | Emotional drawdown, risk of ruin, emotional sizing |
| Collective behaviour | Herding, contrarian opinion |
| Process vs outcome | Decision quality independent of single trade P&L |
Terms to link
| Term | Entry |
|---|---|
| Cognitive bias / Loss aversion | |
| Overconfidence / Confirmation bias | |
| Recency bias / Anchoring | |
| FOMO / Revenge trading / Tilt | |
| Fear / Greed / Panic / Euphoria | |
| Overtrading | |
| Discipline / Trading plan | |
| Journaling | |
| Risk of ruin / Psychological drawdown | |
| Prospect theory / Mental accounting | |
| Herding / Contrarian opinion | |
| Mechanical stop loss | |
| External rules and systems |
Representative authors
| Author | Contribution |
|---|---|
| Daniel Kahneman & Amos Tversky | Prospect theory, heuristics |
| Richard Thaler | Nudge, behavioural finance |
| Hersh Shefrin & Meir Statman | Behavioural portfolio theory |
| Mark Douglas | Trading in the Zone — probability, neutrality |
| Van K. Tharp | Trader profile, R-multiple, psychological sizing |
| Brett Steenbarger | Desk psychological performance |
| Alexander Elder | Triple screen, operational psychology |
Links
| Resource | Why |
|---|---|
| Plan, checklist, routine | |
| Rules that reduce bias | |
| Emotional manipulation in scams | |
| Operating philosophies |
Recommended path
- Bronze Path — Module 5 (basic psychology: FOMO, fear, discipline)
- Stop loss — mechanical tools
- Trading journal · Trading plan — plan and journal
- Methodologies — structured process
- Anti-scam — when emotion makes you vulnerable to fraud