Online Investing: Derealization and the Experience of Risk
EXTENDED ABSTRACT - In this paper we set out to show that the Internet causes a disruption in traditional patterns of online investors perception, resulting in, what Lyng (1990) calls, edgework: a desire to experience risk as an end in itself. The perceptual disruption caused by the Internet is a function of two distinct yet interrelated processes: virtualization and derealization (Virilio, 2000). Virtualization denotes the process of substituting reality with virtual representations, including money, the practice of trading, companies, and even the Self. Because of this progressive virtualization of its key components, the entire investing experience seems increasingly unreal (derealization). It is only after the phenomenon of online investing has been derealized in the mind of the investor that it emerges as site par excellence for voluntary high risk-taking behavior, transforming its purpose from maximizing risk-adjusted returns to maximizing the experience of risk for its own sake.
Citation:
Detlev Zwick and Nikhilesh Dholakia (2004) ,"Online Investing: Derealization and the Experience of Risk", in NA - Advances in Consumer Research Volume 31, eds. Barbara E. Kahn and Mary Frances Luce, Valdosta, GA : Association for Consumer Research, Pages: 58-58.
Authors
Detlev Zwick, York University
Nikhilesh Dholakia, University of Rhode Island
Volume
NA - Advances in Consumer Research Volume 31 | 2004
Share Proceeding
Featured papers
See MoreFeatured
Can’t Take the Heat? Randomized Field Experiments in Household Electricity Consumption
Praveen Kumar Kopalle, Dartmouth College, USA
Featured
M2. Of Expectations and Experiences: The Moderating Effect of Valanced Expectations on Enjoyment of a Positive versus Negative Experience
Brian Gillespie, University of New Mexico
Molly McGehee, University of New Mexico
Featured
Q11. The Effect of Message Ephemerality on Information Processing
Uri Barnea, University of Pennsylvania, USA
Robert Meyer, University of Pennsylvania, USA
Gideon Nave, University of Pennsylvania, USA