Russell's Anger Test: A Lesson for Investors

Bertrand Russell wrote in Unpopular Essays (1950) that anger at a contrary opinion signals a lack of good reason for one's own view. The idea applies directly to markets. A trader who gets angry when someone shorts their long position, or dismisses a bearish thesis without hearing it, is likely holding a belief that cannot survive scrutiny.

Russell's life offers a model. He was a British philosopher, mathematician, and Nobel laureate in literature. He married four times, had three children, and co-wrote Principia Mathematica. His work emphasized evidence, logic, and intellectual honesty. He did not react with hostility to disagreement. He examined the evidence.