As financial markets expand globally in response to economic and technological developments of the twenty-first century, our understanding and expectations of the people involved in these markets also change. Unmasking Financial Psychopaths suggests that an increasing number of financiers labeled "financial psychopaths" are not truly psychopathic, but instead are by-products of a rapidly changing personal and professional environment. Advances have been made in identifying psychopaths outside of situations accompanied by physical violence, yet it is still difficult to differentiate psychopaths in cultural settings that have adopted psychopathic behavioral tendencies as the norm. Within the investment sector, a fundamental transformation has occurred: the type of person employed by financial firms and the environment within which finance is conducted have both changed. Society's expectation of financiers adapted to these subtle, behind-the-scenes shifts, resulting the public at large perceiving more individuals in the financial sector as acting in a psychopathic manner. Being able to distinguish the truly psychopathic financier from individuals who conform to behavioral expectations is the first step towards a cultural shift away from accepted psychopathic behaviors in the financial sector.
Deborah W. Gregory is a Lecturer in Finance at Bentley University in Waltham, MA. She holds a Ph.D. in finance from the University of Florida, and is a Chartered Financial Analyst as well as a Jungian psychoanalyst. She focuses her research at the intersection of the financial and psychoanalytical worlds.
