The project
About the Lab
A behavioral finance capstone built in the open — connecting original experiments, a podcast, market-data analysis, and public workshops around a single question.
Origin
Where this started
The Pressure Premium Lab began with a simple observation: the same person can make very different decisions depending on the pressure they are under. The project set out to take that intuition seriously — to define it, measure it, and test how far it travels from the individual to the market.
Rather than a single paper, it is built as a platform: experiments produce the evidence, the podcast and briefs interpret it, and workshops carry it back to the people it is about.
Why behavioral finance?
Markets are made of decisions, and decisions are made by people. Behavioral finance is where the psychology of judgment meets the data of markets — the right vantage point for studying how stress changes outcomes.
Why pressure?
Pressure is everywhere decisions matter most: trading floors, leadership calls, exam halls, match points. It is also something you can manipulate cleanly in an experiment, which makes it a rare bridge between lived experience and measurable data.
Why a public platform?
Research, media, and education reinforce each other. Experiments generate findings, the podcast pressure-tests them in conversation, and workshops put them in front of the people they describe.
Founder
Sami Muhtadie
Sami Muhtadie is a student interested in behavioral economics, financial markets, and decision-making under pressure. His work explores how psychological forces shape risk-taking, leadership, and market behavior.
Roadmap
Project timeline
A March-to-August capstone, built in phases. Status updates as each phase completes.
- March – Early Aprilcomplete
Foundation Setup & Branding
- Finalize research questions
- Build website skeleton
- Design the Pressure Premium model
- Record trial episode
- Draft research prospectus
- Mid – Late Aprilactive
Experiment Design & Launch
- Launch Risk Under Pressure study
- Test control, time pressure, social evaluation, and loss-framing conditions
- Publish first podcast episode
- Embed experiment on website
- Early – Mid Mayupcoming
Identity & Leadership Study
- Design identity and leadership primes
- Measure risk tolerance, confidence calibration, and herding
- Publish podcast episodes on identity and leadership
- Draft first analysis
- Mid May – Mid Juneupcoming
Market Volatility Study
- Explore VIX, sector volatility, Google Trends, and event windows
- Build charts for the website
- Draft volatility paper or op-ed
- Mid June – Mid Julyupcoming
Dashboard & Website Polish
- Build the interactive dashboard
- Add the Behavioral Breakdown archive
- Add the Pressure Test feature
- Publish working paper and briefs
- Late July – Mid Augustupcoming
Workshop & Final Delivery
- Run the in-person workshop
- Collect feedback
- Publish final materials
- Finalize site and capstone deliverables