Richard L. Peterson is an American behavioral economist.
He has spent his career at the intersection of psychology and money. From developing quantitative models to imaging the brains of investors, he has emerged as an expert in the psychology of financial decisions and the mining of sentiment in social media

Social media

The term Social Media refers to the use of web-based and mobile technologies to turn communication into an interactive dialogue. Andreas Kaplan and Michael Haenlein define social media as "a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0,...

.
He developed the MarketPsych Ontology Language for Finance, which employs text mining software to identify and quantify economically predictive sentiments, and he is an internationally-recognized speaker in the area of behavioral finance

Behavioral finance

Behavioral economics and its related area of study, behavioral finance, use social, cognitive and emotional factors in understanding the economic decisions of individuals and institutions performing economic functions, including consumers, borrowers and investors, and their effects on market...

 and social media analytics.

Life

He graduated from the University of Texas, with a BS cum laude in Electrical Engineering

Electrical engineering

Electrical engineering is a field of engineering that generally deals with the study and application of electricity, electronics and electromagnetism. The field first became an identifiable occupation in the late nineteenth century after commercialization of the electric telegraph and electrical...

, a BA, and Doctor of Medicine degrees (M.D.). He performed postdoctoral neuroeconomics research at Stanford University

Stanford University

The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...

, is Board-certified in Psychiatry

Psychiatry

Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the study and treatment of mental disorders. These mental disorders include various affective, behavioural, cognitive and perceptual abnormalities...

, and is a visiting scholar at Claremont Graduate University

Claremont Graduate University

Claremont Graduate University is a private, all-graduate research university located in Claremont, California, a city east of downtown Los Angeles...

.

Dr. Peterson is an investment advisor and was managing director of the psychology-based quantitative asset management firm MarketPsy Capital LLC from 2008-2010 where he was portfolio manager of their top-performing market-neutral fund. In the educational field he developed popular financial personality tests, published widely in academic journals and textbooks, and is an associate editor of the Journal of Behavioral Finance

Journal of Behavioral Finance

The Journal of Behavioral Finance is a peer-reviewed journal that publishes research related to the field of behavioral finance. It formerly published as The Journal of Psychology and Financial Markets....

. His book, Inside the Investor's Brain (Wiley, 2007) was called "outstanding" and "a seminal text" on investment psychology by Barrons.

Dr. Peterson has appeared in CBS Evening News, CNBC

CNBC

CNBC is a satellite and cable television business news channel in the U.S., owned and operated by NBCUniversal. The network and its international spinoffs cover business headlines and provide live coverage of financial markets. The combined reach of CNBC and its siblings is 390 million viewers...

, NPR

NPR

NPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...

, BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times

Financial Times

The Financial Times is an international business newspaper. It is a morning daily newspaper published in London and printed in 24 cities around the world. Its primary rival is the Wall Street Journal, published in New York City....

, and Harvard Business Review

Harvard Business Review

Harvard Business Review is a general management magazine published since 1922 by Harvard Business School Publishing, owned by the Harvard Business School. A monthly research-based magazine written for business practitioners, it claims a high ranking business readership among academics, executives,...

.

He lives in Los Angeles

Los Ángeles

Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

with his wife and daughters.

Works

• Inside the Investor's Brain: The Power of Mind over Money, Wiley, John & Sons, July 2007, ISBN 9780470067376

External links

• Author's website
• "5 Questions for Richard L. Peterson", On Wall Street