Emotional Regulation and Gendered Behavioral Biases in a Stock Market Simulation: Evidence from Fifteen Semi-Structured Interviews with Novice Investors

Abstract

This article examines how novice investors regulate emotions during a four-hour stock market simulation and how these emotional regulation patterns differ according to gender. Based on fifteen semi-structured interviews conducted after the simulation, the study uses a qualitative comparative approach combining inductive coding of emotional narratives with deductive interpretation through behavioral finance concepts. The findings suggest that gender differences do not primarily concern the emotions experienced, since stress, frustration, confidence, disappointment and satisfaction appear across both groups. Differences emerge in the way emotions are regulated and converted into financial decisions. Four comparative axes are identified: reaction to losses, effect of gains, decision-related stress and response to ranking. Several male participants tend to transform loss and frustration into reparative action, such as trying to recover losses, increasing exposure or changing strategy. Several female participants regulate negative emotions through protection, prudence, analysis, reduced exposure or withdrawal. These patterns are not universal and several counterexamples are observed, but they suggest that emotional regulation may constitute an important intermediate mechanism between emotions and behavioral biases in novice financial decision-making.