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Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can ... - WordPress.com

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But sometimes we’re too sensitive torewards. Reward sensitivity on overdrivegets people <strong>in</strong>to all k<strong>in</strong>ds <strong>of</strong>trouble. We can get so excited by theprospect <strong>of</strong> juicy prizes, like w<strong>in</strong>n<strong>in</strong>gbig <strong>in</strong> the stock market, that we takeoutsized risks and ignore obvious warn<strong>in</strong>gsignals.Alan was presented with plenty <strong>of</strong>these signals, but was so animated bythe prospect <strong>of</strong> w<strong>in</strong>n<strong>in</strong>g big that hecouldn’t see them. Indeed, he fell <strong>in</strong>to aclassic pattern <strong>of</strong> reward sensitivity runamok: at exactly the moments when thewarn<strong>in</strong>g signs suggested slow<strong>in</strong>g down,he sped up—dump<strong>in</strong>g money hecouldn’t afford to lose <strong>in</strong>to a speculativeseries <strong>of</strong> trades.F<strong>in</strong>ancial history is full <strong>of</strong> examples<strong>of</strong> players accelerat<strong>in</strong>g when theyshould be brak<strong>in</strong>g. Behavioral economistshave long observed that executives453/929

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