Index fund investors are more intelligent?

Jonathan Clement, one of my favorite personal finance writer, recently returned to Wall Street Journal system, starting again posting many noteworthy comments. He is a strong proponent of index investment. I would like to quote many of his words from this article: "Are index-fund investors smarter?" http://www.marketwatch.com/story/are-index-fund-investors-smarter-2015-03-30


"It is tempting to argue that indexers are smarter. Instead of pursuing the slim possibility of market-beating returns with active funds, they realize the rational strategy is to index."

"But I suspect it is less about greater intelligence and more about greater conviction. When you buy an index fund, your only worry is the market’s performance. But when you buy an active fund, you have to worry about both the market’s direction and your fund’s performance relative to the market. That double uncertainty may make investors more jumpy—and thus more likely to buy and sell at the wrong time."