Hello and welcome to Speaking of Psychology, a bi-weekly podcast from the American Psychological Association.

I'm your host, Caitlin Luna.

2018 was the worst year the U.S. stock market has seen since 2008, back when we were in the

throes of the Great Recession. If the stock market is giving you anxiety and making you want to

jump ship, you'll want to hear the advice of our guest on this episode. Dr. Frank Murtha is a

psychologist by training and co-founder of MarketSyke, a consulting firm to the financial

industry, where he uses applied investing psychology to the financial services industry.

Later, I'll share an email from a listener about our recent podcast on keeping civility alive

at holiday gatherings. If you have any comments, questions, or ideas for us, email me at

k-luna at APA.org.

That's K-L-U-N-A-A-A-D-R.

We'd love to hear from you.

Now let's welcome Dr. Murtha.

Hi, Caitlin.

How you doing?

I'm doing great.

It's wonderful to have you on our show today.

Now let's start with the current state of the U.S. stock market. The volatile market has made many investors nervous about the year to come, and it's probably

deter potential investors from jumping in.

So what's your take on what's happening?

People often refer to the markets as climbing a wall of worry.

And I think that we climbed it so slowly and for so long without looking down that when we finally

...