Gary Poster, with essential assists from Galyn Norwood, Phiroon Phihakendr, Jose Quijada, Pavandeep Kalra. The trouble with humans Why rats and pigeons might make better investors than people do.
Humans have a remarkable ability to detect patterns.
That's helped our species survive, enabling us to plant crops at the right time of year and evade wild animals. But when it comes to investing, this incessant search for patterns causes more heartache than anything else. Our incorrigible search for patterns leads us to assume that order exists where it often doesn't. Many of us believe, for example, that it's possible to foresee where the market is heading or whether a particular stock will continue to rise. In reality, these things are far more random and unpredictable than we like to admit.