Rationality poll

[shalab]

Munger/Buffett are called rational by many folks - it would be interesting to see what this board sees themselves when it comes to rationality.

[constructive]

There's no "I am more rational than Buffett/Munger"?

 

If that option existed, I might have abandoned false modesty and bumped my answer up one notch.  :D

[rkbabang]

What about:

 

"I am not rational, yet I make my own investment decisions"

 

We all like to think we are rational at least "most of the time".  The second option from the top would get the most votes even in a random poll of people on the street.  Would it be possible to answer this poll rationally if you were not thinking rationally?

[writser]

How rational are the answers of people that answer this poll?

[oddballstocks]

What about:

 

"I am not rational, yet I make my own investment decisions"

 

We all like to think we are rational at least "most of the time".  The second option from the top would get the most votes even in a random poll of people on the street.  Would it be possible to answer this poll rationally if you were not thinking rationally?

 

I agree on this option.  Let's not kid ourselves most of us are not rational all the time, we're influenced by all sorts of things whether we realize it or not.  How many people have had an absolutely terrible experience with a product, then went on to invest with the company because based on their research it was a good investment? 

 

I prefer to see myself as I am not as I want to be.

[premfan]

Being rational is a label that is useless. Everything is subjective and open to intereptation. Being rational would indicate that the person is completely objective. This is impossible cause even objective things have a bit of subjectivity to it.

[ubuy2wron]

If you want to understand rational vs irrational human behaviour, run do not walk and buy a copy of Thinking fast, thinking slow. I promise if you read the book you Will be more likely to make more rational choices going forward. Most of us including the more disciplined Vulcan like Buffett devotees that populate this site are hard wired to make silly choices me included.

[leftcoast]

Interesting how nobody here feels they are impacted by their political views.

 

And yet the political threads are the ones where ideology consistently trumps rationality.  :)

[rkbabang]

Interesting how nobody here feels they are impacted by their political views.

 

And yet the political threads are the ones where ideology consistently trumps rationality.  :)

 

I am certainly impacted by my political views, but hopefully I am still able to act rationally most of the time while making investment decisions.  And I'm not always consistent, returns trump politics for me most of the time.  For instance I try not to invest directly in the military industrial complex, yet I might not sell BRK or FFH just because they hold a small position in a company which I wouldn't invest in directly (like say GE).  Like I said inconsistent, but I tend to skew my inconsistency toward better investment returns rather than towards politics.  I know this about myself even though I'm not proud of it.

[giofranchi]

If you want to understand rational vs irrational human behaviour, run do not walk and buy a copy of Thinking fast, thinking slow. I promise if you read the book you Will be more likely to make more rational choices going forward. Most of us including the more disciplined Vulcan like Buffett devotees that populate this site are hard wired to make silly choices me included.

 

I agree. Great book: a lifetime achievement! I think I have never used as many post-it to mark the pages of any other book before or since I read "Thinking, fast and slow". :)

 

giofranchi