Dunning-Kruger Effect; The Less We Know, The Smarter We Think We Are
Do you think you are good at estimating your own abilities and knowledge? We don’t know you, but there is research that makes us think that no, you are not very good at it.
The Dunning-Kruger effect: the less we know, the smarter we think we are
He Dunning-Kruger effect It teaches us that people with fewer skills, abilities and knowledge tend to overestimate the abilities and knowledge they really have, and vice versa. Thus, the most capable and competent are undervalued. How is this strange phenomenon explained?
The inept criminal who tried to be invisible with lemon juice
In the mid-1990s, a sturdy 44-year-old Pittsburgher, robbed two banks of his city in broad daylight, without any type of clothing or mask covering his face. Her criminal adventure ended a few hours after committing both robberies, during her crime.
Upon being arrested, McArthur Wheeler confessed that he had applied lemon juice to his face, hoping that the juice would make him appear invisible to the cameras “I don’t understand, I used lemon juice,” he blurted between sobs at the time of his police arrest.
It was later learned that the unprecedented idea of the juice was a suggestion that two of Wheeler’s friends explained days before the robbery. Wheeler tested the idea by applying juice to his face and taking a photo to ensure its effectiveness. His face did not appear in the photograph, probably because the framing was somewhat clumsy and he ended up focusing on the ceiling of the room instead of his face covered in lemon juice. Without realizing it, Wheeler accepted that he would remain invisible during the robbery.
Months later, Cornell University social psychology professor David Dunning couldn’t believe the story of intrepid Wheeler and the lemon juice. Intrigued by the case, especially by the incompetence exhibited by the frustrated thief, he proposed to carry out an investigation with a prior hypothesis: Could it be possible that my own incompetence I became unconscious of that same incompetence?
A somewhat far-fetched hypothesis, but one that made a lot of sense. To carry out the study to determine whether the hypothesis was true, Dunning chose a brilliant student, Justin Kruger, with the aim of finding data that confirmed or refuted the idea. What they found left them even more surprised.
A total of four different investigations were carried out, taking students from the Faculty of Psychology at Cornell University as a sample. The competence of the subjects in the areas of grammar he logic reasoning and the humor (which can be defined as the ability to detect what is funny).
The study participants were asked, one by one, how they estimated their degree of competence in each of the named fields. Subsequently, they were made to answer a written test to check their real competition in each of the areas.
All the data was collected and the results were compared to see if any sense of correlation had been found. As you can imagine, very relevant correlations were found.
The researchers realized that the greater the subject’s incompetence, the less aware he was of it On the other hand, the most competent and trained subjects were the ones who, paradoxically, were most likely to underestimate their competence.
Dunning and Kruger made public the results and conclusions of their interesting study. You can consult the original paper here:
Conclusions about the Dunning-Kruger study
The results returned by the paper scientific can be summarized in a series of conclusions. We can assume that, for a certain competence or with respect to a certain area of knowledge, incompetent people:
They seem unable to recognize their own incompetence.
They tend not to be able to recognize the competence of other people.
They are not able to become aware of the extent to which they are incompetent in a field.
If they are trained to increase their competence, they will be able to recognize and accept their previous incompetence.
Consequently, the individual who boasts of knowing how to sing like an angel but his “concerts” always remain deserted is a clear example of the Dunning-Kruger effect. We can also observe this phenomenon when experts in some subject offer deliberate and calm opinions and considerations about a problem, while people ignorant of the matter believe they have absolute and simple answers to the same questions
Do you know any medical professionals? Surely they can tell you how they feel when a patient decides to take a medication not prescribed by the doctor, based on the erroneous idea that as a patient “you already know what works for you and what doesn’t.” Self-medication, in this case, is another clear example of the Dunning-Kruger effect.
Why does this phenomenon occur?
As Dunning and Kruger point out, this unreal perception It is because the skills and competencies necessary to do something well are, precisely, the skills required to be able to accurately estimate one’s own performance on the task.
Let’s give some examples. In the event that my spelling is exceptionally bad, the knowledge necessary to detect that my level of spelling is very low and thus be able to correct my performance is, precisely, knowing the rules of spelling. Only by knowing the regulations in writing am I able to become aware of my incompetence, or in the event that a third person makes me realize it, warning me of the spelling errors I have made when writing a text. Detecting my lack of skills in this area will not automatically correct my gaps in this area; It will only make me aware that my abilities need more attention. The same goes for any other area of knowledge.
As for people who underestimate their abilities and skills, we could say that this occurs due to the effect of false consensus : They tend to think that “everyone does it the same”, thus assuming that their skills are average. However, in reality his skills are clearly superior.
If we can learn anything from the Dunning-Kruger effect, it is that we should not pay much attention when someone tells us that they are “very good” at something, or that they “know a lot” about this or that thing. It will depend on how that person estimates his own capabilities as to whether he may be wrong in one sense or another: either because it is overestimated, or because it underestimates their capabilities.
When it comes to finding and hiring a person who is dedicated to a complex area about which we do not have much knowledge (a computer scientist, an architect, a tax advisor…) we lack the necessary knowledge to evaluate their level of competence in The matter. That is why it is so valuable to consult the opinion of former clients or friends who know that specific area.
The curious thing about this psychological effect is that, in addition, those incompetent people “not only reach wrong conclusions and make bad decisions, but their incompetence does not allow them to be aware of it,” point out Dunning and Kruger.
Another equally or more important reflection emerges from this reflection. Sometimes, the responsibility for the failures we experience throughout life is not due to other people or bad luck, but to ourselves and our loved ones. decisions For this we should carry out an exercise self appraisal when we encounter one of these obstacles in a project or work in which we are immersed.
Absolutely no one is an expert in all disciplines of knowledge and areas of life; We all have shortcomings and we ignore many things Each person has a certain potential for improvement at any point in their life stage: the mistake is to forget this point.
