Self-regulation and investment discipline among retail investors in Ahmedabad: an exploratory study of cognitive reappraisal, self-control, and martial-arts training

Aanay Shah; Shaily Patel

doi:10.36948/ijfmr.2026.v08i05.87600

Self-regulation and investment discipline among retail investors in Ahmedabad: an exploratory study of cognitive reappraisal, self-control, and martial-arts training

Author(s)	Mr. Aanay Shah, Ms. Shaily Patel
Country	India
Abstract	Retail participation in Indian financial markets has expanded rapidly, yet regulators report that most individual traders lose money, which places the psychological determinants of disciplined investing at the centre of policy concern. Drawing on the behavioural life-cycle account of self-control and on emotion-regulation theory, this exploratory study asks whether trait self-control and cognitive reappraisal are associated with disciplined financial behaviour among retail investors, and whether investors with a background in karate or another martial art differ on these capacities. A structured questionnaire combining validated scales (the Brief Self-Control Scale and the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire) with an adapted financial-behaviour measure was administered to retail investors in Ahmedabad. After screening and an attention check, 60 valid responses were analysed, of which 11 reported martial-arts training. Cognitive reappraisal was the clearest correlate of disciplined financial behaviour (r = .48, p < .01) and remained a significant predictor in a regression that also included self-control, financial literacy, and risk tolerance (β = .31, p < .001; model R² = .29). Self-control showed a positive but non-significant association with financial behaviour and a significant association with lower bias-proneness. Martial-arts training was not significantly related to any construct; the self-control difference favoured practitioners with a small-to-moderate effect (d = 0.43) but did not reach significance in a sample of this size. The findings offer preliminary evidence that emotion-regulation strategy, more than knowledge alone, accompanies disciplined investing, and they provide effect-size estimates and a validated protocol to power a larger confirmatory study.
Keywords	behavioural finance, cognitive reappraisal, self-control, emotion regulation, investment discipline, martial arts, retail investors, India
Field	Business Administration
Published In	Volume 8, Issue 5, September-October 2026
Published On	2026-09-12
DOI	https://doi.org/10.36948/ijfmr.2026.v08i05.87600

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Self-regulation and investment discipline among retail investors in Ahmedabad: an exploratory study of cognitive reappraisal, self-control, and martial-arts training

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