Hungry rats 1, Overthinking Students 0

I found the following quote in Learning How to Think by Nocholas D. Kristof. The editorial is about how predictions by expert pundits were often wrong. It seems that the more famous you are, then the more likely you are to be wrong, and that expertise is not a good indicator for making accurate predictions. He wrote:

In another, a white rat in a maze repeatedly beat groups of Yale undergraduates in understanding the optimal way to get food dropped in the maze. The students overanalyzed and saw patterns that didn’t exist, so they were beaten by the rodent.

I think this is a vote for viewing the world as it is, not as we want it to be. As I wrote in an earlier post, it's important to accurately describe what's going on while limiting, as much as possible, any diagnosis. If one can use neutral words to describe the sensations or experiences then one will be led to a more accurate account of the experience, which will then help one to be more in touch with one's soul.

Of course, my overly analytical mind wants to know if it's important that it's a white rat in the study? Why not a gray rat? Or a brown one?