BASICS: THE TENDENCY TOWARD DEPENDENCE IS VIRTUALLY IMPULSIVE | nationalsalvation.net
"Investors form a crowd whose collective action reflects a key aspect of man's nature as a social animal: He is strongly induced to adopt the feelings and convictions of the group."
"In a realm such as investing, in which SO FEW ARE KNOWLEDGEABLE, the TENDENCY TOWARD DEPENDENCE IS VIRTUALLY IMPULSIVE."
"As a result, market decisions are steered not by the rational decisions of individual minds, but by the peculiar collective sensibilities of the herd. The pervasive dependence among its members produces an emotional interpersonal dynamic that, like all feedback mechanisms, has form."
Robert Prechter