Animal spirits was a term coined by the famous British economist, John Maynard Keynes , to describe how people arrive at financial decisions, including buying and selling securities, in times of economic stress or uncertainty. In Keynes’s 1936 publication, "The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money," he speaks of animal spirits as the human emotions that affect consumer confidence . Today, animal spirits describe the psychological and emotional factors that drive investors to take action when faced with high levels of volatility in the capital markets. The term comes from the Latin spiritus animalis, which means "the breath that awakens the human mind." In some ways, Keynes' insights into human behavior predicted the rise of behavioral economics . KEY TAKEAWAYS Animal spirits come from the Latin spiritus animalis: "the breath that awakens the human mind." It was coined by British economist, John Maynard Keynes i...