From Marketplace (5 minute interview):

Here are the questions covered in this interview with a psychology professor:

• What happens in brain when fear hits (e.g., when stock market drops 1,000 points as it did last week)?
• How do different people process the fear stimuli?
• Is our fear response innate or can we teach people to develop a higher tolerance for pain?
• How does fear impact our decision-making?

You might ask students where they fit on the “fight or flight response” continuum and how they might react to a 1,000 drop in the stock market.

About the Author

Tim Ranzetta

Tim's saving habits started at seven when a neighbor with a broken hip gave him a dog walking job. Her recovery, which took almost a year, resulted in Tim getting to know the bank tellers quite well (and accumulating a savings account balance of over $300!). His recent entrepreneurial adventures have included driving a shredding truck, analyzing executive compensation packages for Fortune 500 companies and helping families make better college financing decisions. After volunteering in 2010 to create and teach a personal finance program at Eastside College Prep in East Palo Alto, Tim saw firsthand the impact of an engaging and activity-based curriculum, which inspired him to start a new non-profit, Next Gen Personal Finance.