Emotions in Action

Ali Anani

A Brief Reminder

• Few months back I published a

presentation entitled “Consultative Selling

and Customers’ Needs Identification“, in

which I speculated that human needs

follow an 8- wave structure similar to that

we observe for the price waves of any

stock market.

A Brief Reminder- 2

• In the same presentation I modified and

extended Maslow’s pyramid of needs into an 8-

structured wave-like pattern.

• The rationale behind this thinking was based on

the behavior of the stock market and that an 8-

wave structure of price movement is

accompanied with changing emotions. An eight

wave structure of price changes required a more

complex wave of emotions and needs and a

pyramidal structure fails to meet this requirement

A Brief Reminder- 3

• Bas de Baar was quick to recognize the

fact by commenting “I think it is an

intriguing idea. If the behavior of the stock

market is driven by human emotions and the behavior of the stock market is wave-

like, by use of complexity, human

emotions are wave like”

A New Evidence

• I was fortunate during my web search for

something else that my eye caught the graph in

the next slide representing the change of

mountaineers’ emotions at different climbing

altitudes

• The graph is republished (with kind permission)

from an article entitled “Mountaineering:

physiological and psychological training” by

Peak Performance”

Mountaineering: physiological and

psychological training

The Wave-Like Structure of

Mountaineers’ Emotions

• Inspection of the previous slide

shows how emotions of

mountaineers follow a wave-like

structure.

• Is this any different from the wave

structure of investors’ emotions?

The Contrasting Swing

• There is a contrasting difference here between

the mountaineers and investors in the stock

market

• Mountaineers increasingly suffer as they labor to

the peak of a mountain. In contrast, investors get

joyful as they climb up the mountain of profits.

• The reverse is true. Mountaineers get relaxed

and less stressed, whereas investors fall into

despair

Go up in slow steps.

Physiological and

emotional changes build

up. Beware of emotional

mix and overlap. The

more your body gets

stressed, the less

immune to these

changes you become.

Watch out for team

members’ emotions

Management of

expectations. As

you go up prepare

yourself for

physiological and

emotional changes.

Be ready before

your start climbing

the mountain.

Before

Investing or

Climbing1 During the

Climb2 Post the

Climb3

Prepare Your Self To Prepare Your Emotions

Learn your

lesson and

communicate

your

experiences

Comparing the Climber Wave and

the Investor Wave

Physiological

needs change

with the altitude.

They are not

fixed. Actually,

they do not

disappear upon

moving to a

higher need level;

in contrast, they

intensify. Are

emotional needs

any different?

The Ripple Effect

• You are not climbing the mountain (investment

mountain or the physical mountain) alone.

• The emotional and physiological changes you

experience ripple to your neighbors.

• Emotional ripples may feedback to you and your

feelings intensify. Anger may turn into disgust,

for example.

• Intensification of basic feelings generate

secondary and tertiary feelings

Emotional Bifurcation

• The higher a mountaineer (investor)

climbs, the more hopeful he/she gets to

achieving his goal with the simultaneity of

facing increased risk of falling and its

greater negative impact

• This generates a quick bifurcation

between greed and fear. This was

discussed in my previous presentation

here at slideshare.

Emotional Bifurcation- 2

• The rapidity of bifurcation might lead to

chaos or new order

• The desire for achieving a goal will be in

conflict with the fear of falling. Fear

dominance might tip the balance and lead

to unpleasant outcomes.

Emotional Bifurcation- 3

• The outcome is complex as mountaineers

influence each other. The emotional

landscape is full of the euphoria, the

despair, the passion, the dreams, and

the desires that make us human

• Is this a type of quick bifurcation

(branching) sickness? Or emotional

cycling?

More Analogy

• Investors herding happens when investors

constantly watch their fellows, alert for

every clue of what they will do next. The

difference is that there is no leader. The

crowd is the perceived leader, but it

comprises nothing but followers. When

there is no leader to set the course, the

herd cues only off itself, making the mood

of the herd the only factor directing its

actions

Conclusion

• Emotions have a complex landscape. The

direct study of this landscape as I showed

in a previous presentation is

advantageous

• Emotions have a coast-like boundary and

cannot be measured precisely. The more

you zoom on this coast, the more you

discover. Refer to my presentation

entitled, “The Cost of the Emotional Coast”

Conclusion- 2

• The use of metaphors is helping in

charting out the complexity of emotions.

This presentation compared the emotional

stock markets with the emotions of

climbing mountains. The analogy is

consistent with my previous presentation

that emotions have a wave-like structure